Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro
by The biggest ikarishipping Fan
Summary: There is a secret to deceiving destiny. Now, in order to bring Kokoro home safely to her parents, time will be altered and feelings will be discovered. Nobody ever said it was going to be easy though. Ikarishipping!
1. Dream

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter One  
Dream**_

---

_In which a dream is too much to bear  
__It is usually a nightmare _

---

"Happy birthday, Kokoro!" A mother with dark blue hair and matching azure eyes yelled, hugging her purple hair daughter who just turned eight years old.

"Do I get to have cake for breakfast since today's my special day?" The young girl questioned, grinning at her parents with wide, sparkling eyes that she inherited from her father.

"No sweetie, that much sugar this early in the morning is bad for you," Her father, a man with onyx eyes and plum color hair that grazed his shoulder replied, giving his daughter a quick kiss on the forehead, then his wife a peck on the lips.

The mother grinned, telling the girl in a gentle tone, "Yeah, no cake this early, honey. Sorry. You can have pancakes though with strawberries and whip cream!" The blunette chirped.

"Really?" The girl's eyes shone brighter. "How many? Where are they?" The girl gasped loudly as she spotted the jackpot: seven stacked pancakes drenched in maple syrup with whip cream pile high on top along with two neatly sliced strawberries.

The girl ran over to the counter, stabbing her fork into the pancake and taking an eager bite.

"She must get that from you," The father commented, taking a seat next to his daughter.

"Hey," The mother teased, punching his muscular shoulder. "What is that suppose to mean?"

He smirked, replying mysteriously, "I don't know... you tell me. Do you think it's a good thing or bad thing wolfing down a thousand calories this early in the morning?"

"You make it sound like a bad thing," The mom pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "She'll get full by the time she's halfway done with the third one. She can never finish the whole thing." She whispered the last part in his ears, grinning slyly as she kissed her husband on the lips, wrapping one arm around his torso.

_EW!_ I'm trying to eat here! Get a room, would ya?" The eight year old shrieked, earning a chuckle from both parents.

"I'll go check on Hiroki. When I get back we can go open presents, 'kay?" The mother glanced at her daughter, waiting for her reply.

"Okay, mommy," The girl replied through a mouth full of pancake.

* * *

_-x-Dawn's Dream-x-_

_Darkness engulfed Dawn, nothing but blackness that stretched on forever in front of her. A cold breeze swept through the darkness, sending a shiver down the blunette's spine._

"_H-Hello? Anybody there?" Where is this place? What kind of dream is this?_

"_Aah, aah," A quiet voice sung. _

"_Huh? What? Who's there?!"_

"_Aah, aah, aah," The voice sang again. The voice seemed to echo from all around Dawn, in every direction. _

"_Fire rips through the souls," The voice continued singing, the voice feminine and childish. The voice was petite but beautiful, melodic with every note sung just right. "Surrounded by dark ghouls, tears of a heartbroken mother, sorrow of a grief-stricken father."_

_What a… sad song. Dawn thought to herself, still looking for the source of the voice._

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

"_Huh?" She turned around, grimacing as there was a bright flash of light that blinded her. "What is that?!"_

"_Oh, oh, oh," The voice harmonized._

_"Time flies by fast, as a girl gets lost in the past, A road of death, a web spun out of tears, facing their greatest fears," The girl continued to sing in her petite voice. She hummed softly, a sad hum that matched the song and lyrics perfectly._

_The bright white light began to dim, a figure forming in the light. The outline of a young girl, around the age of eight, holding out her hands in front of her, upwards and open. They were open as if she was holding something in them, or waiting for someone to give her something. The light dimmed even more and Dawn was able to make out purple locks. Purple bangs covered the girl's eyes. _

"_Aah, aah, aah," The girl's hum turned mute as the small chime of bells became present. _

"_(Aah, aah, aah)," The room echoed. _

_The young girl wore a white cloak and was barefoot. Dawn blinked as a small fire began playing right above the girl's open palm, flickering and ghost-like, hissing and spitting all around._

_Dawn screamed as the fire began spitting at the ground, the ground getting set aflame. The fire surrounded the girl in a perfect circle, trapping the girl in a wall of eerie flames. The girl didn't budge, didn't move, didn't panic. She just stood there, her palms open as flames continued to play above them. The flames flickered across her features, but the flames didn't touch her. Her eyes remained hidden from her bangs and shadows._

"_Don't play with fire, or you are **will** get burned." The girl whispered, her voice dry and brittle. _

_Before Dawn could react to the warning the girl was gone, in a puff of gray smoke._

_-x-End Dream-x-_

Dawn woke up, drenched in sweat and shaking all over. Her breathing came quick. Her body felt cold all over and she continued shivering and trembling all over despite the heat she felt from the nightmare.

"Don't play with fire… or you will get burned… is this a warning? A sign?" Dawn questioned herself quietly, placing a warm hand on her forehead. Her forehead scorched her fingers from with the warmth of her forehead, but she didn't notice, too busy thinking of her dream.

"Ughh… I feel horrible!" Dawn whispered to herself, slumping back in her sleeping bag, dropping her hands to hold her stomach. "It can't mean anything… it was just a bad dream… a bad, eerie dream," Dawn reassured herself. "It _can't_ mean anything!"

"_Don't play with fire, or you are sure to get burned."_

Even so as the girl's creepy voice replayed in her mind, goosebumps trailed up and down her arms, and she shivered.

* * *

A young man, around the age of thirteen, tossed and turned in his sleep. Sweat drenched his body, his black shirt sticking close to his chest. His hands reached out, as if trying to grab hold of something, or some_one_. He muttered incoherent words under his breath, continuing his tossing and turning.

"Don't go..."

_-x-Paul's Dream-x-_

_"Where is this place?" Paul asked himself, wandering around a maze of trees, bushes and weeds. Dead trees. Charred bushes. Overgrown weeds that covered the forest with dry, spindly, spider-like weeds. _

_Paul grunted, grimacing as he made his way through another weed-infested part of the forest, stepping over the knee-tall nuisance, some of the weeds catching on his pants and socks._

_"Great..." Paul muttered sarcastically, brushing the weeds off. _

_"Day will turn to night," _

_Paul turned around, a chill running down his spine as everything turned darker. He turned back around, cautious as he searched to see who the voice belonged to. 'Who was that?'_

_"Navy and Lilac, Fire and Ice, Hot and Cold," The voice continued its melody. "Two different worlds will clash, Two is made, One is loss and one is reborn." _

_'What are the meaning of the lyrics?' Paul wondered, continuing to look for the source of the voice in the darkness. _

_"A horrible story, a tragic ending, but there's no use pretending."_

_A horrible story? A tragic ending? No use pretending... Paul repeated the lyrics in his head, confusion etched on his face. 'Hm, sounds like something terrible happened...'_

_'But this is just an eerie dream,' Paul thought to himself, closing his eyes. 'It's not real, and the lyrics... they came from nowhere. This dream, it means nothing.'_

_'Hm... Navy and Lilac... Fire and Ice... Hot and Cold... Two different worlds... Still, where did the lyrics come from? ...Two is made, one is loss and one is reborn. That's like... Two take away one plus one. This is all just so... weird.' Paul thought to himself, continuing to ponder on the meaning of the lyrics._

_He sighed, opening his eyes._

_'What the—?!'_

_His eyes were greeted by fire. Burning, cackling, glaring fire, less than a foot away from him. Suddenly, he felt himself sinking... sinking into... what, exactly? _

_He glanced down, just barely managing to stop a gasp from escaping him as he realized he was sinking into something... dark... and red... something the color of crimson... and something sticky._

_Blood._

_-x-End Paul's Dream-x-_

Paul woke up, panting, hot and sweaty.

'That dream... that face...' He frowned, recalling the dream and recalling a... recalling an image he saw right before he woke up. A blue blur mixed with a pastel color. Even as Paul saw the image in his mind, he couldn't figure out who it was... a vague memory of someone... somebody he had seen before... but who? Who was it?

Paul shook his head, clearing the blur from his mind.

"It doesn't matter..." He muttered. "It was just a dream. A strange dream..."

* * *

"Here's the last present Kokoro," The mother handed her daughter a medium-sized box wrapped in pink wrapping paper, a red ribbon on it. The girl didn't hesitate a second in tearing off the wrapping paper and opening the gift.

"Oh wow…" The girl breathed, her eyes widening and shining with amazement at the gift in her hand.

"Did you know your name means 'heart'?" The girl shook her head. "Your name, Kokoro, is a Japanese name. The meaning for your name is 'heart' . It's how you say heart in Japanese."

"Really? Wow, that's so cool!" The girl smiled at her mother. She turned her attention back to the gold heart-shaped locket in her hand. It was gold and heart-shaped (obviously; those details were already mentioned), and it was covered in tiny, sparkly studs.

"What are these things on it?" Kokoro questioned, referring to the clear-blue like jewels on the locket.

"Those are called diamonds," The father answered for her. "This locket was very expensive, so you have to be careful not to lose it, okay? We had to save a lot of money to afford this."

"Okay, daddy!" The girl chirped. "What's in the locket though?"

"A picture," The mom grinned, continuing, "But we aren't going to tell you which one! You'll have to get it open in order to see which one we put in there!"

"Well, it must be a small picture…" The girl muttered, taking note that the locket was only one and a half inches long. "And it's heart-shaped. Hm…"

The mother smiled, taking a seat on her husband's lap. "What's with you? You look distant… as if you're thinking about something."

The dad shook his head, replying in a quiet, far-off voice, "It's nothing… I just thought I…it's nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yeah…" The man replied softly, still somewhat in his faraway land, trying so hard to recall the memory that had flashed across his mind.

'Why does it feel like something bad is going to happen soon?'

* * *

**This chapter was edited. It has a few (or a lot) of changes from the original version (since I accidentally replaced the first chapter with an edited second one - oops!), but it won't affect the later chapters too much. :P**


	2. Angel

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Two  
Angel**_

---

_Looking down upon us in an angel  
Whose tears remind us the world isn't always beautiful_

---

"Hurry up, Dawn!" Ash yelled from outside her tent. "I want to get to Veilstone City sometime to challenge the gym leader sometime!"

"I'm almost done!" Dawn yelled.

Dawn looked into the mirror as she finished brushing her hair. "Perfect!" she whispered, running one last brush through her hair.

"I'm ready!" she yelled and came out of her tent.

"You're wearing a different outfit?" Ash asked surprised just a bit.

"What? I decided to try on a new look." Dawn said, giggling as she put on a fake pout.

She giggled as she spun around, showing off her light teal skirt with darker teal flowers decorating it, her ink black tights complimenting her snow white heels. She ran a hand down her hourglass figure, running her hand along her silky, strapless, white as snow button up shirt. A darker, forest green, long-sleeved shirt was under it, in fact showing a new style for Dawn.

"When did you get those?" Ash asked.

"The Veilstone mall, duh! We're right next to Veilstone ya know and while you were looking for the gym I went shopping! Why did we have to spend the night out here anyway?" Dawn asked.

"Because the pokemon center was full since its close to Christmas and a lot of people are doing their Christmas shopping here." Brock explained, scanning the area for what was most likely any cute girls he could go chase after.

"Oh, okay." Dawn said.

"Hmm, looks like there's a storm coming." Brock observed, taking notes of the gray sky starting to form clouds.

"Whatever. Now, lets go already! I want to get my third badge already!" Ash complained.

"Okay, okay! We're coming already!" Dawn said while sweatdropping. "Gosh, so impatient..." she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Now, where's the gym..." Ash said mostly to himself. "Huh?" A shadow covered his face, darkening his chocolate color eyes.

A lavender hair teen walked by, not even bothering to glance at the trio. He had his hands shoved in his pocket, his dark eyes serious as he passed.

"It's Paul!" Ash cried out. "I _mmphmmph_!" Dawn placed her hand over Ash's mouth to make him be quiet.

"Put a sock in it Ash!" Dawn said harshly, annoyed at the boy's aggravating habit.

"Mmph!" Ash said stubbornly.

Dawn sighed.

"What do you losers want?" Paul snapped, his voice dripping with annoyance.

"Huh?!" Dawn gasped, shock by his rudeness. "What did you say!?" Dawn screeched, removing her hand from in front of Ash's mouth, glaring a death glare at the indifferent teen.

"I challenge -" Ash started but was hit on the head by Dawn.

"Gaa! I'm tired of this! Why do you always have to challenge Paul for a battle first thing off?" Dawn yelled. "I'm sick of it!"

"I doubt they care for your opinion, troublesome." Paul muttered, rolling his eyes.

"WHAT!?" Dawn roared. "I AM GOING TO -!" Brock held Dawn back from killing Paul.

"Whatever. I don't have time for this!" Paul stated, beginning to leave.

"Wait! Are you going to the Veilstone gym?" Ash asked.

"Yeah..." Paul snorted. "Where else? You don't actually think I would go to a Mall, do you?" He asked sarcastically.

"So am I!" Ash yelled happily, grinning childishly. "So...where is the gym?"

Paul snickered. "Heh, you're going to challenge a gym and you don't even know where it is? Pathetic."

Fire glared in Ash's eyes. _'Gee, it's barely morning and Paul already have two people ready to kill him.'_ Brock thought to himself, sweatdropping.

---

Dawn moaned in her sleep. She tossed and turned in her sleep, moaning and getting her body tangled in the covers. At times Dawn would yell as an outburst, still tossing and turning in her sleep. Whenever Dawn did quiet down she was breathing noisily.

_-x-Dawn's Dream-x-_

_Dawn ran through a jungle. Not a forest and not the woods. Wild Mankeys and Primeapes screeched at each other angrily. Wild tangles of vines would fall in front of her suddenly, making Dawn trip and fall._

_Dawn would however quickly get up and start running again. Dawn wore the exact same outfit she was that morning, except for a golden, heart-shaped necklace. Her hair blew wildly in front of her. Suddenly she saw a golden light. She ran toward the light to come across a bog. It was really foggy out and it was hard to see through the mist, but Dawn saw what was floating on the bog. The same girl who was singing that melody in her last dream. This time though she was wearing a pair of white wings. Now she really did look like an angel. _

_The girl was singing again but this time a different song._

_"The end is coming,_

_From the sky above,_

_An angel has been chosen,_

_Love is dead,_

_To come from a world,_

_A single second of light,_

_To vanish to be replace with darkness,_

_A single life is broken,_

_In the legend of an angel,_

_One thousand days,_

_Go by in a year,_

_One hundred hours a day,_

_Darkness will destroy the end,_

_Wings of an Angel,_

_To fight for heaven's gold,_

_Deep inside the heart,_

_To find the truth,_

_Listening to the rush of tears,_

_To bring sadness to the heart,_

_Listening to the wind's melody,_

_Like a ghost whispering in the dark,_

_A thousand tears,_

_To form a river,_

_Hearts to be stolen,_

_My the world's cruelty,_

_To end the world." sang the angel-like girl._

_The way the little girl sang the song made Dawn want to cry. Suddenly, the girl turned to Dawn. Her eyes were red like demons and her white wings turned to black. _

_-x-End Dream-x-_

Dawn woke up crying. The dream was so weird. She was so cold she felt as if she was frozen in a block of ice cube. Dawn cried silently into her sleeping bag, scared of the strange, frightening nightmare.

_-x-Paul's Dream-x-_

_Paul heard a scream. Paul turned around, as he did there was another scream. This scream was louder. Then there was a third scream. Paul ran toward the scream. He ran through a jungle with screeching mankeys and primeapes, tangled vines, and aipoms throwing bananas at each other. The screams got louder until finally he reached a bog. Over the bog was the same exact girl that looked like Dawn from his other dream, but this time she had white angel wings. Golden light shone on her giving her the impression of an angel. The Angel stood there singing a melody he never heard before._

_"Thousand miles away,_

_Day by day,_

_Golden light,_

_Night by night,_

_Of a thousand years,_

_Tears by tears,_

_Gray skies hovering over the brightness,_

_Leaving only the memories,_

_Of a thousand deaths,_

_To be save by a golden angel,_

_Deep inside the heart,_

_Roaring thunder of dying lightning,_

_Touch of an angel,_

_Bringing joy to the world,_

_Only to be drowned out,_

_By the sound of a dying heart,_

_Golden light of the god,_

_Black wings of an angel,_

_Bringing darkness,_

_Flooded tears,_

_Dying soul of an angel,_

_It's the end of the world." the song ended in a sad melody._

_Paul watched in amazement as the young girl sang the song. Suddenly her wings turned the blackest color he ever saw. Suddenly, he noticed the figure behind her. Dawn. She was lying beside her, unconscious. _

_"Daddy." the girl whispered before falling into the bog. Paul ran towards the girl and the bog. The girl was gone. He checked on Dawn. She was breathing still. Suddenly, he noticed the red puddles beside her. Blood. Then he saw the large gash in Dawn's side. _

_-x-End Dream-x-_

After that Paul woke up breathing hard and fast. Paul was so wet from sweating it looked like he jumped in a lake a couple minutes ago.

* * *

**This chapter was edited. Mainly corrected a few spelling mistakes and typos, added more details, etc.**


	3. Prophecy

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Three  
Prophecy  
**_

---

_The prophecy says a girl will die  
And for her I will cry_

---

Kokoro couldn't sleep. She kept on looking at her heart-shaped locket. The hard patter of rain outside sounds similar to the noise to the sound of a heart beating. The thunder outside were like loud drums in Kokoro's ears. Kokoro studied her pretty heart-shaped locket.

"Bii!" A pokemon suddenly yelled.

"Huh?" She stood straight up in her bed now. "W-who's there?" she called out shaking. Thunder roared outside like an angry rayquaza. "Ah!" Kokoro shrieked, surprised by the loud crash of lightning followed by the usual roar of thunder.

"Bii! Bii!" The pokemon yelled again. The young girl yelped at the noise.

"H-hello? Anyone there?" she called out again, her eyes darting nervously around her room.

"Celebi! Bii! Brii!"

The girl gasped. It was a Celebi! Bravely, the girl got out of bed and walked outside. Hard rain greeted her on the doorsteps. Another forked lightning crashed someplace nearby. "Ahh!" The girl shrieked again, jumping a few inches off the ground. The girl continued to venture foreward though, shaking slightly in fear and shivering from the cold raindrops that kissed her skin.

"Bii! Brii!" Yelled the pokemon. Kokoro then saw the green pokemon known as the voice of the forest. The pokemon laid sickly on it's stomach. "Bii... Bii..." It called out weakly.

"Are you okay?" she asked the pokemon as she ran towards it. She picked up the pokemon and cradled it in her arms.

Another lightning crashed followed by another and another, followed by the booming of thunder as it hit the ground, startling the poor pokemon. "Celebii! Celebi bii!" it shrieked.

"Shh... Shush Celebi. It's okay," she reassured the pokemon. A sheet of pale electricity covered the sky, and of course, as a result, the ground began gave a sickening shriek of agony.

"Celebi!!" Celebi shrieked then began to glow a white flash.

The girl gasped, her onyx eyes going wide as she shrieked, "AHHH! Mommy! Daddy! Help!" She clutched the pokemon more tight, squeezing her eyes shut as a strange, unusual sensation began to fill her body, and her mind felt hazy... She shrieked again when she could no longer feel the ground, feeling herself go as light as air...

_This is what it must feel like to fly_, were Kokoro's last thoughts before she was transported into the past with the voice of the forest in her hands.

"Kokoro!" The mother shouted as she ran out the front door in a pink bathrobe, having heard her shouts from inside the house. "Kokoro!" she shrieked again and ran to where the young girl was, a green fairy pokemon in her arms, but it was too late. "Kokoro!" The mother sobbed, falling to her knees.

_---_

_A dying heart,_

_An angel will be coming,_

_To save one precious to you,_

_Thousand days of pure sorrow,_

_Lost in a rainstorm,_

_Lost in time,_

_Only to realize,_

_You're dying the next day,_

_Only to think,_

_Thunder is death itself,_

_Of a true heart,_

_Joy and pride,_

_To be stolen,_

_Only by a single soul,_

_The darkness will rise,_

_The prophecy to be,_

_A legend of a single girl and a single boy,_

_Only to be forgiven of a single kiss,_

_One wrong thing done,_

_Life is over for one." Sang the girl. _

_The girl giggled as she danced around trees, her soft, white dress blew up as she danced. Her lavender hair blew in the wind causing a dramatic looking picture. Once innocent black eyes, now as red as fire, glowed in the dark, gloomy forest. Sunlight burned the girl, causing a demon-like expression. Golden wings glowed the brightest yellow, like the wings were made of the sun itself. It was like the mixture of a demon and an angel._

_"The prophecy well come true in five days," The girl whispered in a hoarse, old woman voice. "And an angel shall be sent."_

_With that said the young girl vanished into the deep fog. 'What does that mean?' Paul asked himself. 'A dying heart? Lost in time? A legend of a single girl and a single boy? What does it mean?' Paul threw questions after questions at himself._

_Paul walked around, tripping over tree roots in the gloomy dark and getting poked by rotting tree branches. Everything about this place was dead and graveyard-like. The feeling of the forest was like being in a big graveyard. Paul felt as if someone was watching him the whole way. Finally, he settled himself in front of an old oak tree with a stone tablet in front of it. Paul gasped as he read what it said and the picture on it._

_"Two worlds to be reversed _

_A single life will be loss_

_Only to be saved by_

_A golden pair of wings_

_Wings of an Angel_

_And sun shall shine in the dawn_

_And love will find its way around_

_And two will become one_

_Life will be reborn_

_As two will fight for life_

_As the fire god will come for them_

_Three gods will emerge_

_And the powerful one shall be exposed_

_And life will be reversed." Paul read to himself._

_Underneath the picture was a picture of Paul and Dawn and a shorter girl similar looking to Dawn. Paul was holding Dawn in his arms and the young girl was on her knees. In the background was the outlines of trees. _

_"Is that... me and Dawn?" Paul asked himself as he looked at the picture. No!, he told himself. That could be anyone! It's just a carved outline of two people and a girl that looks like us! It doesn't mean it is me and that pesky, loud mouth idiotic girl._

_---_

Dawn sighed as she dragged her feet along towards Crystal City which was known for all of it's museums and known legends.

"Ow! Gee, can't we take a break Ash? My feet are killing me! These high heels are giving me blisters!" Dawn exclaimed rubbing her ankle.

"You're the one who decided to wear high heels," Ash told her, rolling his eyes as he gave an exasperated sigh. "Just take them off and carry them."

"Oh, fine!" Dawn exclaimed, scrunching up her nose as she took off her high heels. "Ow, ow... owie..." She whimpered as the blisters on her feet were disturbed from taking off the high heels.

It was still gray and cloudy out and looked like it could downpour any second. Dawn looked up sadly at the clouds.

These clouds remind me of those dreams I've been having lately, Dawn thought to herself. She remembered last night's dream. It was so scary and unreal.

Suddenly the famous lavender hair rival of Ash, Paul, showed up.

"Hn, so I see you're in Crystal City too," Paul noted, shoving his hands in is pocket. "I suppose you will want to battle me with those weak pokemon of yours. You up for the challenge?

"Hey! I accept!" Ash yelled back, glaring at the indifferent teen. "And my pokemon are not weak!" Ash huffed in a quiet voice.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu agreed.

Paul smirked. "Get ready to lose then."

"I should be saying that to you!" Ash called back.

"Torterra, stand by for battle!" Paul called out, throwing a red-and-white ball.

"Go!-" Ash was about to call out his pokemon when out of no where when a deafening roar drowned his voice out.

"What's happening?" Dawn yelled. The deafening roar repeated itself and was followed by a terrifying shriek.

"AHHH!" A girl's voice echoed, followed by a terrified shriek. "Mommy! Daddy!" A girl's sob was heard. "Help!"

Paul returned his pokemon and followed Ash and co., curiosity taking control of his usually indifferent actions and for some unknown reason, there was a mix of dread mixed the curiosity that filled his chest.

Dawn gasped at what she saw. Her mouth formed an "O" of surprise. Paul blinked in shock, his mouth slightly agape as he too saw the figure being chased by an angry and outraged Rhydon.

"RHHYDON!!!" The silver pokemon bellowed.

"Eek! Mommy! Daddy!" The girl yelled as she ran as fast as she could away from the pokemon, stumbling once in a while over a stray rock .

Paul quickly got over the shock and called out Ursaring. "Go! Ursaring! Hyper beam!" Paul ordered.

The pokemon let out a deafening roar then a golden-orange light sizzled from it's mouth as it got ready to charge the hyper beam at the outraged pokemon. The golden beam sizzled and crackled from electricity. The pokemon bended it's head back a bit then fired the hyper beam at the silver, armored, angry creature chasing the lavender hair girl. The golden beam hit the fuming Rhydon. This infuriated the Rhydon even more, causing it to use earthqueake. The earth shook with extreme power causing Ursaring to fall down. Soon after, the Rhydon hit Ursaring straight across the face with hammer arm.

This act made Ursaring furious as it roared, it's eyes taking on a red tinge that ignited a fire of determination, "GRAWWWWRRRR!" The Ursaring roared in a thunderous voice. Once more Ursaring used hyper beam. The powerful force pushed the Rhydon into a tree, knocking the Rhydon out.

"Pokeball, go!" Paul yelled as he threw a ball that was half red, half white. The ball blinked red as it rolled around a couple of times, going right, left, right, left, right. Finally the ball stopped rolling and it's blinking stopped. The Rhydon was caught. As Paul picked up the ball he took out his night black pokedex and scanned the ball.

"Hmm, this pokemon has some pretty good attacks. I'll keep it for now." Paul muttered to himself, placing the pokeball in his backpack.

"Mommy! Daddy!" the girl yelled as she hugged Paul and Dawn. Dawn who was still shocked by the girl's appearance.

Did she... just call me... mommy?, Dawn asked herself. Dawn then realized how close she was to Paul and blushed. "Mommy... Daddy..." the girl whispered before she suddenly collapsed onto the dirty ground.

All of them gasped (well, except Paul, who's eyes just went wide).

"We have to get her to a hospital or pokemon center!" Paul heard Brock tell all of them.

**_--That Night--_**

'Why did she call me Mommy? And did she also call Paul Daddy?' Dawn questioned herself as she sat in the pokecenter staring at the pastewhite ceiling. 'Hmm...' Soon Dawn wandered into a strange dream.

_"A horrible tragedy will happen," echoed a female voice. Dawn was walking along copper color walls. Ahead was a golden light. The light was blinding and made Dawn eyes water. "The only way to prevent it is to put away your differences and admit to each other your true feelings!" the angelic voice echoed through the walls of the hall. _

_When Dawn finally reached the end of the corridor, a blinding light burned into her eyes. Tears rolled down her delicate pale cheeks as the light continued to burn in her eyes. When the light went away a horrible figure replaced it. "AHHH!!!" Dawn screamed._

Dawn woke up from the horrible figure but even so the figure still haunted her mind. Why was the bed hard? Suddenly, Dawn realized she must have fallen off the bed. Dawn shivered in the coolness of the air. Dawn looked at the clock. Twelve eighteen. 'Wow...' Dawn thought to herself. She could still see the sickening picture of what laid before her. Dawn hadn't really scream, but in the dream she did. "What does this all mean?" Dawn whispered.

* * *

**Edited this chapter. Mainly fixed spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes and adjusted a few sentences so the characters seemed less OOC. Also added more details.**

**Also Happy New Years**!


	4. Images

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Four  
Images  
**_

---

_The images I see leave me paralyzed with fear  
The images left me mesmerized in here_

---

_At first the dream wasn't so mysterious and all, but then it was as if they were in a jar and then someone put their hand over the jar's cover. Everything was gray. Dawn's hair blew in the furious wind. Dawn screamed. An ear-splitting scream. It was as if a tornado was happening! Dawn covered her ears as if doing that would make the ferocious wind, the hideous crash of thunder in the background, the whipping of the dirt and everything, go away. One second everything was a disaster, then the next moment... she was in a forest. She didn't know where she was. The green leaves swayed before her._

_"Thousand lies,_

_Beneath the grave,_

_The answers will be solve." said a voice behind her. Dawn shrieked as she stumbled backwards into an oak tree._

_Dawn turned to see a gray, frail looking lady behind her. The lady had golden hair that flowed freely in the wind and dark gray eyes that studied Dawn's every move. Her white cloak blew in the wind. The young lady weakly lifted her arm, her hands balled up. Her hands slowly released a silver powder that dropped in the wind. Then in a demon-like voice she whispered, "Stop." Then in a gust of wind she disappeared only to be replace with more silver powder._

Dawn woke up in sweat that morning. Dawn touched her forehead but quickly pulled it back. Her forehead felt as if it was on fire. That was the second nightmare she had that night.

**xXx-- With Kokoro --xXx**

Kokoro sighed as she woke up from her dream. The dream was about her parents. She sighed once more and whispered to herself.

"They can't be my parents! They can't!" Kokoro suddenly found herself weeping on her bed. "M-My parents... it can't be them..." Tears stained her face that morning.

Kokoro weakly forced herself out of bed so she could get dress. She wore a black short sleeve shirt with a purple oversize jacket that once been her father's jacket. She put on her skirt which was the pale purple color of lilacs and black knee-high socks, along with her lilac-colored go-go boots. She stared at the golden heart-shape necklace in front of her that glistened in the light.

"They look like my parents but they aren't..." she whispered again. Her dream flashed into her mind again.

_"Heart. Kokoro means heart." Kokoro heard her mother chirp to someone. She turned around and saw who. Herself. A five year old Kokoro._

_"Happy birthday, Kokoro!" Shelly told Kokoro and handed her a lime green and blood red gift._

_"Yippee! Kokoro is five! Yippee!" A chartreuse hair young girl jumped up and down in excitement, clapping her hands together in excitement. Her curly pigtail-styled hair bouncing on her shoulder._

_"Here! I gave you the better present cause I'm nicer!" A green hair boy, known as Tim said smugly, flicking his bangs arrogantly._

_"Nuh uh! Mine is way better! Cause it is a dress, something she actually likes!" The green hair lass, April, yelled then stuck out her small tongue. "So ha!" She flipped her hair smugly, smirking. _

_"You Dumbnut! You're not s'pose to tell her! Now she knows!" Tim yelled, rolling his sapphire eyes._

_"Oopsie! My bad. Oh well! Lets happy dance Kokoro!" April giggled._

_"Daddy how come you never bought _me _a doll for my six birthday?" Shelly whined, staring up at her father with wide chocolate color eyes that she inherited from him._

_The messy hair father stared down at his black hair daughter with his own chocolate brown eyes and replied, "We gave you about seven dolls!"_

_"Oh yeah, you did! Wait! You cheater! That was for my fifth birthday!" Shelly pouted and tried to push the pokemon master._

_The master laughed at his daughter's playfulness and picked her up. "You're almost seven, Shelly! You don't need dolls! You're a big girl, aren't you?"_

_"I still want dolls for my birthdays!" Shelly muttered stubbornly._

_"Fine, but we can't afford the expensive ones now that we have Aurora to look after," The father told his daughter._

_She stuck her tongue out at him but smiled afterwards._

That was the way her friends were acting exactly on her fifth birthday. Shelly gave her a doll, April gave her a dress, and Tim gave her a race car set. Kokoro wiped a tear from her eye at the memory.

_"Nighty-night, Kokoro. Don't let the bed bugs bite." _

"Mommy always use to tell me that before bed after she read me a bedtime story," Kokoro said quietly to herself.

_"Why are you and mommy fighting!?" Kokoro asked her father screaming so loud, she had to cover own ears. Kokoro sobbed uncontrollably._

_A look of guilt painted the sad dad's face. His face looked as if he wanted to cry too. Mixed with the sadness and guilt though was frustration and determination._

That was the first time, and last time, she experienced a fight between her parents. It was like a screaming match between the two. Her mother was sobbing and her dad was shaking in both anger and the unhappiness of having to fight with his wife.

_"Kokoro, Daddy and I have a surprise for you..." Her mother whispered to her one night._

_"What is it?" Kokoro asked. Her mother's eyes twinkled in happiness._

_"You're going to be a big sister," Her mother's voice whispered. Her voice was light. It was as light as a feather. Her voice seemed to go with the wind. Her voice **was** the wind. _

Her mother had told her that just two weeks before her eighth birthday.

**xXx-- With Paul --xXx**

Paul yawned and stretched as he got out of bed. He wore only his boxers and the black shirt he regularly wears. He slowly and drowsily put on his pants, and jacket along with everything else he normally wears.

He stifled a yawn as he led himself to Dawn's room.

He banged his fist against her door. "Hey! Annoying girl! Wake up!"

Dawn growled as she heard him banging against the door. She quickly put on her pink skirt, black knee-high socks and her pink go-go boots.

"I am awake!" She opened the door angrily. "What do you want!?" she snapped.

"Someone was bitten by the bedbug last night," Paul muttered, referring to Dawn's crabbiness. His lips turned upward slightly in an amused smirk at the frowning girl in front of him.

"Where's that girl?" Paul asked.

"Huh? What girl?"

"That girl from yesterday!" Paul replied impatiently, scowling at the girl's forgetfulness.

"And you call _me_ grouchy... She's in the room next door. To the left," She answered, pointing to the right door with her thumb. "Why?

With that Paul walked away without another word, choosing not to answer the blunette.

"Jerk..." she muttered, scowling as he walked away.

With a sigh, she walked over to the mirror in the room, and took out her brush.

"Gee! What's his problem?" She brushed her hair quickly. She then bent over to pick up a bobby pin that fell on the floor.

"Ugh! I mean seriously, he could at least try and be-" Dawn gasped and dropped the brush she was holding. She tried to scream but her voice was stuck in her throat.

_"Horrible dreams,_

_All it seems,_

_Another horrible story,_

_While another stands in glory,_

_Dark angels and demons rise,_

_No matter how hard one tries,_

_It ends up the same ending."_ The voice sang in her ears, repeating the lyrics.

Horrible images flew through her mind, gruesome pictures took over her mind, horrifying, supernatural thoughts danced in her mind.

_No, no, no! NO!,_ Dawn screamed in her head. _Stop, stop, stop! Please, STOP!_ Suddenly her eyes began to blur as fire danced in front of her eyes, as the fire crackled and hissed, it's flames swaying and flickering. A figure began to emerge from the flames, a sickly, ghostly image with the outline of a girl, around eight maybe.

Dawn closed her eyes, squeezing them shut as she held her head in pain and horror, her head throbbing, her eyes burning, her body burning hot as if she was on fire....

"Dawn?" Ash walked in, holding some pancakes. Suddenly all the horrifying thoughts and images went away. Disappeared. Gone.

Her headache disappeared, her body went back to it's normal temperature, and her eyes stopped burning. Everything just... ceased. Went back to normal. How it was before.... No images, no burning, nothing.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, a look of concern on his face. Dawn turned away from the mirror and looked at Ash.

"Huh? Oh, right. I-I'm fine! Really!" Dawn told him and forced a queasy smile. "No need to worry!"

"Uh, if you say so." Ash said, and walked away with his plate full of pancakes. The sweet aroma of pancakes and maple syrup now filled her room. Her stomach grumbled and growled in hunger. Dawn blushed, a bright pink. She hurried out the room, not wanting the chanting and vivid, monstrous images to reappear.

* * *

**This chapter was edited. Just added more details and that's it.**


	5. Parallels

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Five  
Parallels  
**_

---

_These parallels are undeniable  
And these similarities are incredible_

---

Kokoro hung her head sadly as the purple hair trainer, Paul, led her to the part of the pokemon center where they could eat a free meal. She watched the older trainer, who looked so much like her dad.

"What's your name?" Paul suddenly asked her.

"Huh? Oh, I'm Kokoro!" she told the guy.

_"Remember Kokoro, never talk to strangers!"_

Her mother's advice suddenly rang in her ears.

"Uh, Mister? Are you someone I can trust? My mommy told me never to talk to strangers, and well," Kokoro told Paul, poking her index fingers together sheepishly.

Paul turned his head towards the nervous purple-hair girl. "Yes, I mean I won't hurt you or anything. By the way, the name's Paul." The lavender hair trainer introduced himself.

The young girl smiled. "Nice to meet you Paul!" Kokoro giggled. "That's what my mom calls my daddy!" She grinned ear from ear.

Paul smiled at the young, innocent girl. Oh, he was such a sucker...

"Hey, Paul!" A hungry Ash called. "Paul!" The small smile plastered on Paul's face disappeared quickly at the sight of his dimwitted rival. Paul was about to make a rude comment but was stopped as Kokoro started to speak.

"Mister Ketchum!" Kokoro squealed and hugged the shock trainer.

"Uh, hi?"

Kokoro giggled. "Did you lose some weight? You look less buff!" Kokoro told him, a wide grin on her face.

"Huh!" Ash fell animestyle at that comment. "What do ya mean?"

"You're so funny Mister Ketchum! So where's Misses Ketchum?" she asked, a bit of a pout on her face.

"Huh? Oh, you mean my mom? She's at my house in Pallet Town!" Ash told her.

Kokoro giggled loudly at Ash. "Silly! I mean your wife! And where's Shelly? Oh, she's with Misses Ketchum isn't she?"

"What?! I don't have a wife!" Ash sweatdropped. "And who's Shelly? Aagh! Headache!" Ash clutched his head and fell down once more.

All Paul could do was sweatdrop at the scene and think weird thoughts.

"Mister Ketchum, I swear, you're too coocoo for your own good! Did you eat breakfast yet? I mean, seriously! You are really are coocoo whenever you don't have your breakfast!" Kokoro giggled once more. "Well, bye Mister Ketchum! Nice seeing you again!"

"Ash? What's with you?" Dawn asked, frowning at him as she walked into the cafeteria, only to find Ash sprawled out on the floor, clutching his head.

"K-kokoro th-thought I..." Ash's voice trailed off. "Uh, actually never mind..." Ash shooked his head as if to clear his mind of something, standing upstraight now.

Dawn just shrugged. "Whatever..."

"Miss?" asked Kokoro, pulling on the new skirt Dawn was wearing.

Now instead of her usual pink skirt (or the teal skirt she wore the day before) she wore a tight thigh-long black skirt, and instead of the black V-neck tank top over a white undershirt, she wore a dark pink strapless shirt over a white tank top with a one-inch strap. She wore the same go-go boots she had pretty always wore with white knee-high socks, and of course, she still had her three gold triagular clips in her hair. And of course, her white beanie completed her look.

Dawn was pleased with this outfit since it was both stylish and comfortable, and did not require her to wear stupid shoes that gives her blisters. (But the other outfit didn't exactly require high heels, either). She was having fun experimenting with the clothes she got from the Veilstone Mall.

"Hn?" Dawn looked down. "Yeah?"

"Eh, do you happen to know my mommy or where she may be?" the young purple hair girl asked.

"Most likely no," Dawn told her sadly, smiling apologetically.

"Oh." Kokoro said sadly, her shoulders drooping in disappointment.

"No need to worry though! I'm sure we'll find your mommy soon enough!" Dawn said, trying her best to cheer the sad girl up. "What's your name anyway?"

The girl smiled instantly. "I am Kokoro Hanako Shinji!" the girl said proudly. "Kokoro means 'heart' and Hanako means 'flower child' and Shinji means, well, actually I don't know what it means..." The girl twisted her hands together childishly, giggling to herself.

"Kokoro... What a pretty name..." Dawn smiled. "When I grow up, get married and had a child, and if the child was a girl I always planned on naming her Kokoro! It's such a pretty name!"

"Really!?" Kokoro grinned. Dawn nodded her head in response.

"So what's your name, Miss?" the girl asked.

"Dawn, Dawn Berlitz," She answered sweetly. "I'm the daughter of Johanna Berlitz who won one of the Grand Festivals!"

"Really? My mommy's name is Dawn. I think. I mean, that's what my daddy calls her..." Kokoro told Dawn, her voice trailing off thoughtfully.

"Didn't you also say that Paul was your dad's name?" Ash asked suddenly, staring suspiciously at Kokoro before glancing suspiciously at Dawn, who was to his right, and then to Paul, who was on his left side, scowling like always.

The girl nodded innocently. "Mhm. Whay is something wrong? Do you know them?"

"Well, it's just weird... I mean, you look like Dawn, you have Paul's lavender hair and his eyes, not to mention isn't that his jacket you're wearing?" Ash asked.

"No... It's my dad... It was his when he was eleven years old." Kokoro said, adjusting the jacket on her uncomfortably.

"Plus, you just don't look or have traits like Dawn and Paul, but your parents name are Dawn and Paul. Suspi-cious!" Ash rubbed his chin, eyeing the nervous girl with interest.

Paul's scowl deepened in annoyance, glaring at the thickheaded trainer.

"So!? What are you saying!? That she's mine and Paul's kid?" Dawn asked Ash, frowning in annoyance as she placed both hands on her hips. "Ha! We would have to be 4 and 5 years old when we had her, if so!"

"Pi-ika!" Pikachu sweatdropped, also frowning at it's trainer.

"Um, I-I didn't mean anyth-thing like th-that!" Ash stuttered nevously, sweatdropping.

""How old are you two?" Kokoro suddenly chimed in.

"Twelve," Dawn answered.

"Almost thirteen." Ash answered.

"Thirteen?" Kokoro cocked her head. "I though you were 26, Mister Ketchum? And Dawn couldn't be my mommy, cause my mommy is 26 and my daddy is 27..."

"Um, I'm not 26, not even half of that yet..." Ash muttered, scratching his head sheepishly. "Are you sure you're not getting me mixed up with some other dude who's last name is Ketchum and looks like me?"

"And I'm _definately_not 26!" Dawn exclaimed, nodding her head as if to emphasize her point.

"I know," Kokoro told her. "But you look so much like my mommy anyway."

**xXx--At Coronet Mountain--xXx**

"So this is Mt. Coronet!" Ash said, grinning widely.

"I know! My mommy and daddy and I use to go camping here!" The girl chirped.

"Really?" Dawn asked.

"Yep! But that was before mommy got all fat and stuff," The girl told them nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.

"Fat?" Paul asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah... It's because she's having a baby!"

"Oh, I bet you're excited aren't you?" Dawn asked, grinning at Kokoro.

"Eh, kind of. I mean, I like babies and all, but they're loud and all, and always crying and other stuff. I should know! I had to deal with Hiroki. He's my younger brother who's turning four soon." Kokoro explained.

"Oh. Okay..." Dawn said quietly.

They walked in silence for a few moments.

"So, where do you live Kokoro?" Brock questioned.

"Huh? Oh, I live in Veilstone City, of course!" Kokoro answered happily.

"Really? How did you get in Crystal City then?" Ash asked.

"I don't know. I was just following this green flying pokemon then there was a yellow flash then a white flash, and I was here." Kokoro explained, shrugging her thin shoulders.

"Well, she should be getting home to her parents, but I need to go to Snowpoint city to get my icicle badge from Candice..." Ash muttered to himself, thoughtfully.

Paul sighed. "I'll take her home," Paul volunteered. "I already got my icicle badge, besides she lives in my hometown, and I was planning on heading there anyway."

"Oh. Well okay," Ash muttered. "But Dawn, can you go with him? I don't trust him..." Ash eyed him suspiciously.

Paul just rolled his eyes, his frown deepening.

"Well, I guess I could... Sure! I mean, what could happen?" Dawn asked, smiling optimistically.

"See! Now there's some spirit! So you two have fun! I'm off to get my icicle badge!" Ash said cheerfully.

Paul once again rolled his eyes and muttered, "Great... I'm stuck with this annoying girl..."

"I heard that!" Dawn yelled in offense, shooting daggers in his direction.

"Like I care," Paul scoffed.

"Grr... I can't believe I agreed to come along with a jerk like you!"

"I can't believe I'm stuck with someone as annoying as you." He shot back.

"GAH! If Kokoro wasn't here, I swear I would..." Dawn's voice trailed off, and she was shaking a clenched fist at Paul's turned back.

--------

After a while, their continuous bickering cooled down to a below zero temperature, leaving them talkless and bored stiff in result, that is until...

"I'm bored." Kokoro complained. "Can't we stop somewhere?"

"I guess we can at the Eterna City pokecenter and maybe get some lunch..." Dawn suggested.

Paul just nodded his head in agreement.

**xXx-- At Pokemon Center --xXx**

"So... whats your parents like?" Dawn asked Kokoro while sipping on a glass of lemonade.

"They're nice and fun, they always take me places such as Mt. Coronet to go camping, the beach at Sunyshore City... Oh! And also at the Safari Zone in Pastoria City, that one place in Snowpoint City, and my mom always takes me to her pokemon contests she competes in!" Kokoro said excitedly.

"That sounds fun!" Dawn complimented. "Does Hiroki get to go to those places too?"

"Sometimes, like camping and mommy's contests but not to the beach, because she's afraid he might wander off and drown. At those time he stays at my grandma's house. He's also very lazy. He slept through half my birthday, which was a couple of days ago." Kokoro told Dawn. Dawn nodded.

After finishing their lunch at the pokemon center, which was a glass of lemonade (coke for Paul) and a bowl of ramen, they continued on their quest to Veilstone City. "So what else are your parents like?" Dawn asked.

"Well, at night they're pretty noisy." Kokoro said.

"They are? Like how?" Dawn asked, cocking her head. Paul decided to listen in to their convesation in interest.

"Well, not very often, but not uncommon, I hear these moaning sounds coming from my parents bedroom, and sometimes I hear my mom saying something about... I think its called a, um, condom? Well, anyway, it sounds sort of gross but I'm too embarrassed to ask my parents what they're doing..." Kokoro told them. "And you probably don't know what I'm talking about." She turned around to see a red face Dawn and Paul, but she didn't seem to care.

"If I was her parents I wouldn't tell her the starlies and the combees until she has gotten married and moved out of the house," Dawn whispered in Paul's ear. Paul just nodded in agreement.

"My mommy and daddy also has a lot of money, because he's a gym leader, the best gym leader in Sinnoh, and my mommy is a grand festival winner! Just like her mom, and my grandma!" Kokoro continued on. "My parents also have a lot of friends such as Mister and Misses Ketchum, Mis-"

"Mister and Misses Ketchum?" Dawn asked.

"Mhm!"

Dawn just shrugged, thinking to herself, I guess there's more people with the last name Ketchum...

"And there's also the Solesons and their nice daughter Lori," Kokoro dragged on, counting on her fingers.

Weird... That's Kenny's last name, Dawn thought.

"And lastly, Mister and Misses Rosalinds!" Kokoro finished proudly.

Dawn just nodded, a vague memory flashing in her mind. "Hm... Where have I heard the name Rosalind before?" Dawn muttered thoughtfully to herself.

_-x-Flashback-x-_

_"So who do you like?" Misty asked May, poking her side._

_"I'm not telling you!" May laughed, throwing a pillow at Misty._

_"Yeah! Who says she's going to tell you Misty! You are going to tell me though, right?" Zoey asked. _

_"Um, noooo!" May also threw a pillow at Zoey, knocking the red-head over._

_"I have an idea! Lets play a game!" Dawn decided, giggling as her friends started hitting each other with fluffy white pillows._

_"Okay!" Everyone agreed, setting down their pillows for the moment._

_"Great! We'll play truth or dare! I get to go first because it was my idea," Dawn said._

_"Fair enough." Misty agreed, thumping May one last time on the head with her pillow._

_"Hey!" May whined, glaring at the carrot top. Misty laughed in return, collapsing unto the bed._

_"Okay! Everone, truth or dare?" Dawn asked._

_"Why everyone?" Misty asked, hugging a pillow protectively against her chest._

_"Just because... Well, just because, okay!" Dawn yelled. "Now, truth or dare?"_

_"Dare." Everyone said at once._

_"Okay! So I dare everyone to say who they like and why." Dawn said._

_Misty sighed. "Okay, I'll go first then."_

_"So who is it?" May asked, waiting eagerly to hear Misty's reply._

_Misty blushed. "Oh. I like..."_

_"Start with 'I'm in love with...'" Dawn told her._

_Misty growled under her breath. "Fine. I'm in love with..." Misty gulped nervously. "Ash Ketchum."_

_"I knew it!" May shouted._

_"Y-you did?" Misty stuttered._

_May nodded. "Yeah! I knew you were in love with him since the day we first met!" May grinned. "I mean, you two are so close and all! You two make a cute couple too! Plus, you make it sooo obvious Misty!"_

_Misty blushed once again, lowering her head in embarrassment._

_"I'll go next," Zoey offered._

_Everyone nodded._

_"I'm in love with, Kenny Soleson." Zoey said with confidence, giving an anxious grin. Despite her bold confession, it was obvious she was still nervous about stating her crush's name to everyone in the room, even if they were her friends._

_"Really? That means you are in love with my best friend!" Dawn exclaimed, grinning slyly at Zoey._

_"Well, pretty much." Zoey admitted quietly._

_"Maaaaaay's turn!" Misty sung in a sing-song voice._

_May gulped nervously, forcing a queasy smile. "You know that one coordinator with the green hair we sometimes see on TV?" May asked._

_"Um, I guess. If you're talking about the one with the Roselia, then yes..."_

_"Oh, I think I know who you are talking about!"_

_"The guy with the roselia and the absol and the flygon? Totally!"_

_"Well... I'm in love with him." May told them._

_"Really!?" Dawn asked._

_Zoey and Misty both squealed._

_" What's his name!?"_ _Zoey questioned, a grin plastered on her face._

_"Drew Rosalind." May answered._

_-x-End Flashback-x-_

Dawn shook her head. "I'll remember some other time..." Dawn muttered to herself.

_-x-Flashback-x-_

_"So who do **you** like, Dawn?" Misty asked, grinning widely._

_"Yeah, Dawn. It's your turn!" May poked Dawn's side._

_Dawn gulped nervously, sweating. "Actually it isn't! Because everyone doesn't include me!" _

_"WAHH!" All three girls started smacking Dawn with their pillows._

_-x-End Flashback-x-_

"So are you two dating?" Kokoro asked suddenly.

Paul blinked from the unexpected question. "No," Paul stated harshly.

"No we aren't, Kokoro," Dawn answered kindly. "And I doubt we ever will." She added grumpily to herself, narrowing her eyes at the cold teen in front of her.

Not while he has that attitude, anyway!, Dawn thought to herself as she crossed her arms.

"Yeah... you _doubt_..." Kokoro teased. Dawn blushed and sighed, shaking her head at the young girl.

"My mom and dad were complete opposites when they were kids. They said they started dating when they were around yours and Paul's age. They also said they can't remember how they got together though," Kokoro told them. "And you two are like complete opposites. I also heard that opposites attract." The girl smiled childishly.

Dawn's face flushed a darker red, while Paul just kept on walking making a disgusted face. "Hn. Yeah, in magnetism..." Paul growled. "Like people who are opposites in real life would ever get together."

Dawn pouted a bit, lowering her eyes to the ground.

"I know!" Kokoro chirped, starting to skip.

"How can one kid have so much energy?" Dawn asked herself quietly. "Slow down Kokoro!"

Kokoro did slow down. "How are babies made?" she asked abruptly, a bigger grin taking place on her face. Dawn's face reddened.

"Wh-why do you wanna know?" Dawn asked, stuttering.

She shrugged. "I don't know. It just crossed my mind. So how _are _they made?" Kokoro asked her.

"Ask Paul." Dawn told her.

"Hm? Ask me what?" Paul asked, glancing suspiciously at Dawn.

"How are babies made?" Kokoro asked innocently.

Paul's face reddened and he shot a glare at Dawn who just smirked and stuck her small tongue out as if saying, _"haha!"_

"Well, your parents do this thing and then nine month later, boom! A baby is made." Paul told her.

"What _kind _of thing do they do?" Kokoro asked.

"Well...," Paul started to sweat. "They um, ask Dawn, she knows."

"What kind of things do parents do to make babies?" Kokoro asked Dawn.

"Huh? Oh. Um, they do this..." 'Avoid the word 'thing' ' Dawn told herself. "...action, and before a women gets there 'time of the month', the action that they do make that one thing," 'Aw, screw it.' Dawn thought. "in the women..." 'I'm stuck.' Dawn thought. "...and make a baby?" Did that even make sense?

Dawn looked uncertainly at Paul. Paul looked pretty confused himself, but nodded anyway.

"Cool! I wanna have a baby!" Kokoro yelled, jumping up and down.

"What!? N-no you can't have a baby _yet_, Kokoro!" Dawn said. "You have to be um, a certain age!"

"Aw..." Kokoro whined. Dawn sighed in relief.

"By the way, what's a 'time of the month' " Kokoro asked.

"Ask Paul, he has it pretty much every day." Dawn muttered.

Kokoro looked at Paul expectantly, and Paul glared at Dawn, shooting a 'I hate you so much right now' look.

"It's this thing girls have once a month." Paul answered.

"Okay!" Kokoro said, happy for the moment. Note the words: THE MOMENT!

"So what's it like being a trainer? Being able to have pokemon?" Kokoro asked.

"It's nice, and pokemon are fun to have around! It's like an adventure because, well, you go around and train them and you go on adventures!" Dawn told her cheerfully.

Paul just shrugged.

**

* * *

**

"So what do you want to eat Kokoro?" Dawn asked the young purple hair girl.

"I'll have a slice of pizza!" She answered immediately, already knowing just what she wanted.

"Which kind?"

"I'll have pepperoni."

"Here you go, Kokoro." Dawn smiled, handing the girl the plate of yummy melted cheese pizza with pepperoni toppings.

"Do they have any Jalapenos?" Kokoro questioned.

"Yes, but aren't those things hot?" Dawn asked, making a disgusted face.

"No need to worry, they aren't _too_ hot! I have had hotter before!" The girl reassured Dawn.

_"No need to worry!" _The phrase echoed in Dawn's ears. She stared at Kokoro for a second. Could she be related to me somehow? Or is she...?

Paul's voice snapped Dawn out of her thoughts. "Huh?" Dawn stared at him, a frown on her face.

"I said, hurry up annoying girl!" Paul snapped at her.

"Grouchy old..." Dawn voice trailed off, taking an angry bite out of her own pizza.

* * *

******Edited this chapter.**


	6. Fault

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Six  
Fault  
**_

---

_All this fighting needs to come to a halt  
__Can't you just accept it's your fault?_

---

_"This is your fault!" screamed a blue-hair seventeen year old._

_"Mine!? It was your idea to go to that retarded night club!" screamed an outraged violet hair teen, his coal black eyes glaring a hole through the blue hair teen._

_"I didn't know they had beer there!" she defended. "Besides, you're the one who wanted to try the stupid drink and kept drinking it afterwards!"_

_"Yeah, well, I wasn't the only one drinking it!" _

_"It's still your fault!" she bellowed. "I didn't know it was beer, I didn't even like the taste, but you kept making me drink it!"_

_"That's a laugh! Like it even matters!" he roared._

_Tears streamed down the blue hair teen's face. "Great!" she sobbed, falling to her knees. Thunder clouds roamed the darkening sky. "You hate me, my friends probably hate me, and my mom is _going_to hate me! How can this day get any worse!?" Her whole body was shaking from her uncontrollable blubbering. She shivered as crystal clear raindrops touched her skin. White lightning lighted up the sky, a low monstrous sound followed soon after._

_The violet hair teen's face softened. "That's not true." he whispered to her, placing his hand on her shoulder._

_Her crying did not cease. "IT IS TRUE!" she yelled, shaking more violently than ever. "I-i promised my mom I wouldn't get pregnant until I was married! She's going to be SO disappointed in me! What's worse, she's going to blame YOU! She knows I'm dating you, sh-she..."_

_"It's okay, you're going to be okay. She'll understand." he reassured her._

_"I doubt that." she whimpered. "I just know she won't..."_

_The boy teen lifted the girl teen's chin, bringing their lips together. She calmed down, her weeping coming to an end. She brought one of her arm around his neck, stroking his purple hair._

_"You're going to be fine." he whispered into her ears._

**xXx-xXx-xXx**

_Lightning crashed loudly outside. The rain outside, pounding rhythmically outside. The wind raged loudly, whipping at the trees outside Dawn's house and everything else in sight. Meanwhile, a specific blue hair teen struggled in her dreams. Familiar dreams that was haunting her, taunting her..._

_An angelic glow surrounded her, the fog growing heavier beside her._ _Lightning collided with the ground, lighting up the sky. A few seconds later a monstrous BOOM was heard, shaking the ground itself. Soon after, the ground turned to water, soon she was sinking into the water. She kept sinking until it reached her chin. She tried calling out for help, but her voice was unable to be heard, tied in a knot at the back of her throat. Slowly, the water released her and everything started spinning, forcing Dawn to fall. As she did, the water turned to blood, from the blood emerged a violet hair child around the age of eight. She had cold midnight black eyes and looked much like Dawn. Her clothes were stained with blood, the red liquid dripping off the tip of her hair. Hoarsely, she whispered:_

_"Mother." _

_Dawn gasped, water starting to fill her mouth, choking her. Without much strength left she felt herself fall, smashing her skull against the cold, dirt floor. The child vanished from her sight, leaving only her words and winter cold air behind..._

_Dawn panted hard as she woke from the nightmare, her head as damp as a mop. Suddenly, she felt her water bag break... "Mom!" she heard herself yell._

* * *

"Achoo!" Dawn sneezed, wiping snot and spit from her sleeve and onto the bedpost.

"Ugghgrrl..." Paul groaned in the bed next to her. "Keep your sneezing to minimum volume, noisy girl. Interrupting a good dream..."

"Good dream? What were you dreaming about? Winning pokemon league? Defeating the elite four? Becoming a pokemon master?" Dawn asked.

The color from Paul's face vanished, but was soon regained, becoming a light pink. the previous dream replaying in his mind. The dream of him and the girl he's travelling with at the moment (the blue hair one that's older, don't go getting ideas about Kokoro) doing what grown ups (them of course being nineteen or in their twenties of course) do. In another form of explaining what the dream was about, just imagine Dawn and Paul, then the starlies and the combies. The image and thought of _him _doing _that _to _her, _made him feel awkward and a bit guilty, admittedly he did think her body was hot. Ask him that though, and he'll deny it.

"Paul? Paul? Paul!? PAUL!?" Dawn yelled at him, waving her hand frantically in front of his face.

He blinked at her. "What?" he asked coldly, his piercing black eyes glaring at her.

"You zoned out for a minute there. Are you alright?" Dawn asked, unaffected by his 'eye of the blizzard' glare, instead showing concern for him by giving him a worry look, placing her hand on her hips.

He glared at her, although it was hard to keep doing so thanks to his dream. "I'm perfectly fine." he hissed.

"I'm perfectly fine." Dawn mocked while making a face, going back to her own bed, tripping over a few objects on the way there in the darkness. Dreams followed as she laid her head on the pillow.

_An older version of Dawn was on her knees, weeping. A familiar voice suddenly filled her ears, bringing a shiver down her spine. "That's not true." the voice said gently. She felt weight press against her shoulder. The reassuring voice did not stop her tears from crying, possibly crying even more than before._

_"IT IS TRUE!" she yelled, continuing to sob loudly and shake uncontrollably. Her mouth open and lips moved, but no sound came out. Soon, the dark background began to fade away and a new scene appeared._

_A taller, more figurative figure of Dawn appeared. She wore short jean cut-offs along with white tights, red high heels that matched the cherry red tank top she wore. The older version of Dawn grinned goofily as she held a small, bald baby and carefully placed it into the teal and pale blue stroller on her side. The black background soon gained more color, emerged from the darkness. The background was of a crimson red couch, chocolate brown love seat, steal blue carpet and a coffee table with a cornflower blue vase with pink, red and yellow roses in it. Surrounding the cornflower blue vase were two smaller-sized royal purple vases with carnations in them. On the couch were a short orange hair lady, obviously in her twenties along with another red-head with with long, wavy hair and cerulean blue eyes with a black hair toddler sleeping on her lap. On the love seat was a brunette with sapphire blue eyes, smiling excitingly with a large abdomen. _

_"Aww... She's so adorable!" the brunette cooed over the month old baby, cradling the baby in her arm._

_Dawn agreed, nodding her head. Abruptly, hands wrapped around Dawn's stomach and she heard herself giggle. Turning around, she kissed the person (guy). The guy smirked, kissing her forehead._

--

"Mommy..." the eight year old girl whimpered in her sleep. "Dad..."

_"Mommy?" a six year old Kokoro called. "Mommy? Daddy? Where are you?"_

_"Say hello, to good dreams..._

_Say goodbye, to nightmares..._

_Oh, sweet lullaby..._

_Don't you cry little one..._

_No monsters hide under your bed..._

_Let good dreams come to you..._

_Oh, sweet lullaby..._

_Dream without a worry..._

_Cause you'll be fine..." the song ended, and she felt soft, warm lips on her forehead._

_"Isn't she beautiful when she's sleeping?" she heard her mother whisper in the darkness._

_"Mommy?" Kokoro breathed._

_"Yes, she is." she heard her dad say._

_"Daddy?" A honey gold light appeared, just visibly showing her parents. She walked towards her parents, but the closer she tried to get, the farther away she became from them. "Mommy! Daddy! Wait for me! Wait! Mommy! Daddy!" Kokoro tripped, colliding with the ground floor. But there was no ground floor! She was falling and falling and falling, into nothing but pure blackness. "MOMMY! DADDY!"_

Kokoro woke up in cold sweat that morning, running a fever.

--

"Oh. You're sick Kokoro." she heard Dawn tell her in a motherly voice, placing a small sack of ice wrapped in a towel on her head. "You're going to need some rest."

"Great... At this rate the pokemon league will be starting by the time we get to Veilstone!" Paul exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air.

"Have a heart Paul and stop worrying about _your_ needs! This girl had lost her parents and you act as if you don't even care!" Dawn yelled at him, outraged.

True, he didn't care for the girl. Or at least that's what he thought, but in reality he really did care about the lost girl. He didn't know why, he had no reason to feel concern to this girl, but in a way she reminded him of _himself!_A sweet, innocent little girl reminded him of himself, a cold, cruel pokemon-master-in-training with no heart!

Within minutes the little girl had fallen asleep, too dizzy and tired to stay awake. Bad memories taking over her mind...

_Her parents were screaming at each other, their faces tomato red. Their eyes were burning like fires, their eyes piercing, threatening, wild. Like an angry Primeape who just got their chestnut taken away by another pokemon. The fighting was so intense, she imagined them actually being pokemon, arguing with each other. Her dad, a Charizard. Her mom, a Tyranitar. She couldn't understand what they were screaming, but even so their screams sent shivers down her back. Suddenly, the image began to spin, turning into a blur of colors. "No. Stop..." she remembers whimpering before collapsing to the ground. "Please, stop."_

"Her temperature isn't going down." Dawn announced after taking her temperature. "I hope she's going to be okay..."

"I'm sure she will." Paul said, rolling his eyes. His action receiving a scowl from Dawn.

"Don't kill him. Do not _kill_ him, Dawn! Do not, do not, DO NOT!" she whispered loudly to herself.

--

"KOKORO! Kokoro, where are you?" a frantic mother yelled out into pouring rain, tears rolling down her cheeks uncontrollably.

"Kokoro!? Kokoro?" the Dad yelled, panic tightening his chest.

"What's this?" Dawn asked, she picked up a bracelet with hearts going all around it.

"It's Kokoro's bracelet." she murmured, her eyes widening, more tears falling. "Kokoro..."

Lightning crashed nearby, sending the young, panic-struck mother jumping. "I'm sure she's find." reassured the Dad, unconvincingly. The mother nodded glumly.

"I hope..." she said, her eyes red from crying.

--

The rain pounded on the room, creating a rhythmic sound. The rhythm of rain was like a lullaby to Dawn. It was only three o'clock in the afternoon, but it might as well have been night. The sky was dark from the thunder clouds covering the colorless sky, the only light being the lightning which would streak across the sky. Shadows would dance across the wall whenever lightning would light up the dark, silver sky.

_"Sunlight and darkness collides,_

_Roses and weed combined as one,_

_Fire and Ice together forever,_

_To be as one and feelings to unfold,_

_The power of love in their heart they hold," unlike the usual songs, this one was more like a chant. The one chanting it was an old lady with silver hair that was glowing in the day's sunlight. She wore a dark gray cloak and picking at flowers with pink petals. The petals danced in the light breeze, the old lady chanting nonstop._

_"Colors of two,_

_Purple and blue,_

_A daughter of their own,_

_Death soon to be shown,_

_Listening to the death song,_

_Unable to solve their differences, unable to get along," the sky was darkening in seconds, fat droplets of water pouring out of the sky._

_"Excuse me miss." Dawn interrupted. She tapped her on the shoulder, as she did the old lady in the cloak turned to vapor. Dawn gasped, taken aback._

_"Mother?" Kokoro appeared behind Dawn, staring at her with those eyes, the blackest of black. _

_"Kokoro!" Dawn yelled, she ran to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. _

_"Mother." She said quietly as she turned to dandelions. She picked one up and blew on it, Kokoro reappearing, only halfway visible._

_"Dawn." she heard a whisper behind her. As she turned around, she was greeted by cold lips._

_"Mommy, why is daddy going away?" A four-year old voice questioned._

_"He's not going away Kokoro, darling. He's just going to be gone for a bit. Traveling." Dawn whispered, a small smile creeping onto her face. She deepened her kiss, wrapping her arm around the person's cold neck._

_"How long is he gonna be gone, mommy?" the voice asked, sounding like she crying._

_"I don't know how long." she answered, tears sliding down her face._

_"I'm going to miss daddy." the voice whimpered._

_"So am I." Dawn whispered back, feeling herself being embraced by the one she was kissing. "So am I..."_

**_KABOOM!_**

"Noooo! Don't go daddy! D-don't go!" Kokoro whimpered in her sleep. The words somehow affected Dawn's dreams.

_Thunder crackled in the distance, red rain falling from the sky, staining her silky, snow-white dress. She caught some of the red rain in the palm of her hand. She realized it wasn't red rain - it was rain. "What the-"_

_"Nooo! Don't go daddy! D-don't go!" sniveled the voice of Kokoro._

_The gray-purple clouds were still raining blood. "STOP!" the voice screamed again._

_"Huh?" she turned around. the next thing she heard was a monstrous roar, an ear-piercing scream, and the sound of Starlies and other bird pokemon flapping their wings, cawing and making other bird noises. "DON'T GO!" yelled the childish voice, loud sobs following after. _

_She looked up into the sky, gold color stars glowing and winking through the dark clouds. Without warning, the earth began to quake and rumble, splitting the earth. Dawn tried to scream but couldn't, her throat was tied in a knot. Large tears poured out of her eyes, blood still pouring heavily out of the sky. After a minute, the trembling of the earth stopped and the cracking in the ground disappeared. Minutes after, numerous pale lavender butterflies with gold outlining appeared, encircling Dawn. The hideous sound of thunder in the distance made them fly off, leaving salmon pink powder behind. "STOP DADDY! PLEASE, STOP!" the child's voice cracked in the middle of the sentence. Though it was hard to tell from all of the blubbering, she was pretty sure she heard the girl yell another 'STOP'. The salmon pink powder the butterflies left behind danced around her. _

_The blood-rain began to lighten up, soon becoming black rain. She took a step forward, as she did the ground turned to crystal-clear water and it began to mist. A soft, melodic voice was heard through the heavy misting. Dawn bent down, touching the water. Her reflection stared back at her, she was shock when it began to speak. Of course, only bubbles could be heard. "What are you trying to say?" Dawn whispered quietly. More bubbling and gurgling noises came from her reflection's mouth. She touched her reflection, it fade when she did. "Wha-! Wait, don't go!" she yelled, sweat rolling down her face from the humid weather. When did it get so hot and damp? Dawn wondered._

_"Oh..." came the same voice from before._

_"Who-who's there?" Dawn called out, wiping sweat from her forehead._

___"Cloudy dark skies, shining stars in the night," Dawn turned around quickly, and gasped. She saw herself. She, Dawn, was standing in front of a red river surrounded by huge, moss-covered rocks, which she sat on. She sang on. _

_"Broken dreams, saw nothing so bright..." The voice got deeper, more emotional, and more angelic._

_"Dark rain blocking out all the light..._

_In the dark night with no sight..._

_A name carved, visible in the moonlight..." the voice became softer, sobs interupting the song._

_What did the song mean? Dawn stared at herself, trying to figure out what the meaning of the song was._

_A dark shadow fell over herself, the shadow embraced her. She turned into cherry blossoms as it did so, the cherry blossoms drifted off into the wind. The other Dawn that was singing stared at the shadow that had turned herself into cherry blossoms. The black rain came to a stop, instead the clouds began to rain cherry blossoms. 'Wait.' A faint voice whispered. The shadow appeared right in front of her. She smirked, a dark shadow hiding her eyes. She faintly touched the shadow which turned to purple rose petals. "Dawn..." came the faint voice of Paul, the violet color petals being scattered by the wind. _

_The wind blew gently, the nearby trees whispered. "Kokoro, honey, I see you. Go back to bed." Dawn said sternly._

_"Aww... But I wanted to play hide and seek some more!" the girl whined, tugging at the bubblegum pink dress Dawn was wearing._

_"But mom-!"_

_"No buts, Kokoro!" her voice firm. Kokoro opened her mouth to speak again, but instead evaporated into thin air. Like Kokoro, Dawn evaporated also._

_A pink wild flower blew off into the harsh wind, landing in a the purple hair of a boy. "Dawn, I need to tell you something." Paul told a blue hair girl around his age. He looked one-hundred percent serious._

_"Yes." she asked cutely, picking up the pink wild flower that was in his hair, thanks to the wind. She twirled the flower in her hand, awaiting his answer._

_"I lo-"_

"SCARY BEAR! SCARY BEAR!" screamed Kokoro, hiding her face with her sheets, pointing a shaky finger at the window.

"Ergh... That's a tree branch." Paul told her, chuckling slightly.

"Huh, what? I swore it was an Ursaring clawing at the window!" she shrieked.

"It was just a scary, old tree branch scratching at the window." he reassured her.

"Looked like an Ursaring to me." she grumbled.

"Have you ever seen an ursaring?" he asked.

"Mhm! My daddy has one! He uses it sometimes when he gets challenges! It's VERY powerful!" she bragged.

Dawn smiled at the scene before her, glad Paul was actually being nice to Kokoro. "What other pokemon does your father have?" Paul questioned.

Kokoro grinned smugly. "He has a Honchkrow, Magmortar, Electivire, Toterra, and loads more, such as-!"

"I have a lot of those pokemon you mentioned. Or pre-evolution of the pokemon at least." Paul told her.

"Really? That's so cool! Maybe someday you'll be a gym leader like my dad!"

"What's your dad's name?" Paul asked curiously.

"Paul Shinji!" Paul's mouth went dry. "And my mother's name is Dawn Hikari, a famous coordinator!"

"Oh." he murmured.

* * *

_**And I'll leave it there! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! :-D And yes, most of the chapter is **italics**. (Nervous laughter) xD Paul is such a pervert! Dreaming that of Dawn! XD Now, e**__**h... REVIEW!! (You don't have to but they make me happy and help me get the chapter done quicker) n.n **_


	7. Games

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Seven  
Games  
**_

---

_One of these days these games will have to come to an end  
Please don't be sad, don't cry, my friend_

---

Lightning crashed nearby, the windows rattled, loud thunder grumbled in the distance. The wind began to pick up speed, the rain pounding against the roof and windows of the pokemon center. The light from the center flickered, but the electricity didn't go out. Paul could hear the clitter-clatter of Kokoro's teeth. Kokoro shivered, pulling the sheets closer and tighter to her. The room felt below zero, colder than Snowpoint City! Paul watched Kokoro struggle to get warm in her sleep.

_'Why does her dad have the same name as me?'_

Paul wondered. _'And her mother... The same name as the pesty girl.'_

"Paul..." he heard Dawn moan.

"Hn?" he turned his head towards her. She had kicked off all of her covers, revealing her pale pink night gown. She moaned some more, kicking her feet, trying to find a way to get comfortable. In the flickering light he saw her shiver. Somehow this made him smile. He walked over to her bed, putting her sheets and blankets back on her. When he was about to walk away, she grabbed his wrist. Somewhat shocked, he looked down at her, seeing she was still asleep.

"Don't go." she murmured, still holding on to his wrist.

_'**Who** don't go?'_

"Don't leave me..." he saw a tear roll down her pale pink cheek.

"Please, don't go... "she pleaded in her sleep. Her grip on his wrist loosen, and her hand let go of his wrist.

Paul took one last glance at Dawn, then walked back the bed he was lying on. He stared at Kokoro, studying her looks. _'How can she look so much like that annoying girl, but have my hair and eye color?'_

"Wh-what's wrong! Celebi... What's wrong? Celebi..." the girl sleeptalked. Celebi. The pokemon which is known as the Voice of the Forest; also known for traveling through time.

Paul studied the girl, his heart racing and his mouth dry, pondering on whether or not the girl could be from the future. _'Impossible.'_ He found himself thinking.

* * *

"Looks like the rain may be coming to an end…" Paul murmured.

"That's good, that means Kokoro will be reunited with her parents sooner!" Dawn said cheerfully, clapping her hands together.

Paul stared at Kokoro, watching as she drew a picture of two people with a pencil and a few markers. What was it about her that made him curious about her? Why did he feel some kind of... bond, fatherly bond with her? Why did his insides nag him to find out more about her? It was as if his mind knew a secret he did not know, one that he needs to figure out. A puzzle he needs to solve.

"What are you drawing?" he asked, curious.

She smiled up at him, replying in a cute and giggly voice, "My parents, of course!"

He glanced at the drawing again. She was still only eight or seven or whatever age she said she was, so her drawing wasn't perfect, but it definitely wasn't horrible. A woman who looked no older than eighteen smiled from the picture, wearing a yellow halter-top and a short red skirt. The father, a plum hair man, stood with only a slight smile on his face while wearing a gray-black shirt and a gray jacket with denim pants. Suddenly, he noticed how fat and plump the mother looked in the belly.

Even though it may have sound rude to ask, he decided to ask anyway. "How come your mother is all plump looking?"

As he said this, Dawn gave him a slight smack on the shoulder and glared at him. "Don't you think that's a bit rude to ask?" she whispered harshly in his ears.

"That's an easy question! She's pregnant, duh!" Kokoro replied cheerfully. "She's due in… six months!"

"It's not that rude if they're plump because they're pregnant." Paul replied rather smugly to Dawn.

In reply, Dawn stuck out her tongue childishly and stomped off to get dress, arms crossed with her pouting face on.

A sudden flash, a thought from last night when Kokoro was calling for Celebi, flashed in his mind, and he found himself asking, "Hey, Kokoro, why were you mentioning Celebi last night when you were sleeping?"

She dropped her eyes, as if suddeny shy. "Well… you see, I've been having these bad dreams since I got separated from my family. I heard Celebi calling and went outside to see it looking sick on the ground. I went over to see if I can help, but the next thing I knew, a lightning flashed and I saw a silver glow… and I was lost, separated, someplace else."

"That certainly is strange." Paul agreed. "For one thing, how did you get here?"

The girl shrugged. "Hey Dawn!" she greeted as Dawn came out from the bathroom or dressing room.

"What were you two talking about while I was gone?" She asked, putting on a strawberry pink scarf.

Paul was about to reply when Kokoro interrupted him. "When are we going to Veilstone to find my mommy and daddy?"

"When the rain slows, Kokoro." she answered, then muttered in a voice so only Paul could hear, "And at this rate it could take days!"

"I hope not." He muttered in reply.

"So… since we're going to be here for a while, so lets play a game!" Kokoro suggested.

"Sure, what kind of game?" Dawn questioned.

"Hmm…" the girl let out a thoughtful hum, her hand cupped around her chin. "How about… 'Would you rather…'!"

"Sure! Okay, that sounds fun! Don't you agree Paul?" Dawn agreed cheerfully.

"Yeah, sure…" he grumbled nonchalantly.

"May I go first, Kokoro?" Dawn asked politely.

"Sure!"

"Okay…" She too let out a thoughtful hum, deciding whether or not to test Paul. Finally, she decided having a little fun with him would be enjoyable.

"Paul, would you rather have a team full of jigglypuffs or be a coordinator?" Dawn asked, suppressing a giggle.

"Depends on how strong the jigglypuffs are, as long as they are strong enough to win battles and put up a challenge at the least, jigglypuff it is." he replied in a cool, uncaring manner.

Dawn let out a puff of breath, clearly hoping for more of a "considerate" and even possible "embarrassed" Paul.

"My turn, my turn!" Kokoro yelled, hopping up and down from her seat.

"Go ahead, Kokoro." Dawn said.

"Okay! Now, um, lets see… Dawn, would you rather, uh, eat Spinaraks or… get in a fight with a Mankey?"

"I think I would take my chance with the Mankey. No Spinaraks in my diet, thank you." Dawn replied coolly.

Kokoro looked slightly disappointed, but instantly cheered up, declaring, "Paul's turn, Paul's turn!"

"Ugh, I'm not even playing this stupid game!" He whined.

"Paul, just play!" Dawn snapped.

"Fine. Kokoro… would you rather have a shiny togekiss or a shiny milotic?" he asked in a bored tone.

"That's not a very good question!" she complained.

"So would it be the shiny togekiss or the shiny milotic?" he asked impatiently, though slightly amused.

"Um… Can I have a different one? I'm not sure."

"I thought you said this wasn't a very good question." he mocked.

"It's not! Not that much anyway. Can I please have a different one? This question is too hard!" She whined some more.

"Ugh, fine. Would you rather go without food and water for a week, or suck the blood of bug pokemon as your food for a week?"

"Suck the blood of bug pokemon? You mean like a vampire?"

"Err, sure…"

"Cool! I would want to be the vampire, sucking blood all day! Hsshhh!" She cried, letting out a fake hissing sound.

"It's pretty much her only choice." He whispered in Dawn's ears. "She would die without food or water for a week."

"Okay, its Dawn's turn again!" Kokoro cheered.

"Again? Oh, well, um…"

"Hurry up! We don't have all day!" he snapped.

"How would you know that? There's a freaking downpour outside for Arceus sake!"

"Just make up your mind already! Arceus!"

Dawn growled under he breath. "Okay, fine! Kokoro would you rather be with me or the sour prune over there?" she asked, a little more sharply than she intended.

"Err… Do I have to answer this one?"

"Yes! Now who?"

"Maybe she doesn't want to answer this question!" Paul yelled. "And you can't make her, you know!"

"Oh shut up! What is with you? It's like you're grumpy twenty-four seven! What are you some kind of angry freak?" Dawn yelled back.

"Err… I made up my mind! I rather be with both of you!"

Unaware of the young girl and her words, they kept on arguing, throwing curses and insults at each other.

"You are so rude!"

"Yeah, well at least I'm not stupid!"

"Ugh, you'll never get a date with that attitude!"

"And you'll never get a date with the hair of Frankenstein's bride!" he snapped back.

Dawn gasped in shock, then yelled back, "I take that back! You'll never get a date in your life!"

"And how would you know exactly, hn? I have plenty of fan girls for your information."

"Oh please, I know you wouldn't date them! Besides, even if you did, they would decide they were stupid to even like you!"

"Oh yeah, I bet that's what you said when you first met me."

"Wait a minute, are you saying I had a crush on you?!" she asked, more in shock than anger.

"I said no such thing that you can prove!" he sneered.

"Aha!"

The two arguing teen and pre-teen turned to face the speaker of the "Aha!", who just so happened to be Kokoro.

"What?" they both asked in unision.

"My next 'Would you rather…' is going to be, Dawn, would you rather go out with Ash or Paul? And to Paul, would you rather go out with Dawn or one of your fan girls?"

Silence broke out between the two, both shocked and surprised by Kokoro's questions she thought of during the game. Dawn was the first to break the silence.

"What?"

"Why-?"

"Well, you two were fighting, so I decided to have a little fun with you two. I wanted to see your reactions! And of course, answers!" Kokoro grinned knowing she was succeeding in having a much more "exciting" question. "Well…?"

The two risked a peek at each other, both mouths dry, struggling for words to answer the questions while still being truthful. It wouldn't be nice to lie to an eight-year old girl, but in a situation like this, where the guy and girl is in the room, and you're possible confessing of how they rather be romantic with them instead of somebody else, well… It's hard to tell the truth, while it can also be hard to lie.

When Dawn answered, she truly wasn't sure, yet she was sure of what her answer should be. It was a stuggle, to say the answer, not only because Paul was there, but also from her uncertainty.

Meanwhile, when Paul answered, it was just because he wasn't going to admit of any romantic feelings for the girl who just so happened to be listening. Though he was sure what the real answer would be, he also decided it would be less… "dramatic" and "uncomfortable" with his answer.

"Pfft. I rather go out with one of my fan girls than her." he pointed disgustedly at Dawn, almost sneering even.

"Yeah, well, I rather go out with Ash than you! Heck, I rather marry a caterpie than even think of going out with you."

"Hmph. Your Caterpie groom is waiting." He said with a sneer.

Despite the previous arguments, Dawn couldn't help but giggle just a tiny bit at this little tiny joke. Despite it probably wasn't to be a joke, she couldn't help but say through her giggles, "I don't see any Caterpies!"

"That's because he's leaving you, he's wanting a divorce." He said, a low chuckle escaping his throat. His sneer died down to an amused smirk.

"How can we get a divorce? We're not even married yet!"

"I don't know. Ask him." Dawn giggled some more at this, her cheeks turning a rosy pink color.

Kokoro stared at them with curious eyes, now and then making disgusted looks at them. "Yuck! You two sound like my parents!" she exclaimed, sticking out her tongue.

The older two of the group stopped joking with each other, suddenly aware of how much they sounded... well, like boyfriend and girlfriend. The two looked away in a disgusted manner.

"Ew!/Yuck!" They both exclaimed, back turned on each other.

* * *

Thunder roared from outside, the wind raged against the pokecenter's side, rockingit slightly. Soft snores came from the lavender haired teen on the next bed. The blue-hair girl that resembled her mother in a more childish and younger form mumbled in her sleeps. Once in a while Kokoro was able to actually understand what she was mumbling, the words "coordinate", "cute", "piplup", and "love" included.

The younger of the two, the lavender hair girl named Kokoro, glanced around the room nervously as shadows danced across the wall. "Mommy, daddy..." she whimpered, hiding under her cover, only to find more darkness.

* * *

_"Hey, who's she?" A six year old with dark midnight blue hair and dark eyes the color of midnight questioned joyfully, pointing to a purple hair girl that looked an awfully lot like his mother._

_A ghost of a smile appeared on the mother's lips. "That was Kokoro. Sh-she was your older sister."_

_"Really?" The blue-hair boy grinned. "Where is she now? How come I never met her?"_

_The mother sighed, blinking back tears as she rasped out weakly, her mind foggy with the sad memories of her daughter. "Sh-she's moved on, Hiroki... to a different, better place..." A tear slid down the blunette's pale cheek, falling coldly on her pink skirt, followed by many more salty tears. _

_"Eh... mommy?" Hiroki frowned. He had never seen his mom cried before. **Why** was she crying? "Are you okay?"_

_The mother gasped, breaking somewhat out of her state of mourning. She turned to her son, forcing a cheerful smile. Her son wasn't fooled. "No need to worry, Hiroki! I'm fine! I-It's just... I haven't dusted in here for **SO** long! My eyes were starting to get watery! Y-Yeah, I better go dust now, that way your eyes don't get watery either! Heheh..."_

_Hiroki frowned, getting up from his place on his mother's lap so she could dust, despite she just dusted the living room that very morning. "I wonder what's wrong with mommy..." Hiroki asked quietly. _

_He didn't like to see his mommy cry..._

* * *

Kokoro opened her eyes, real tears coming out of her eyes. "Mommy! Daddy!" she shrieked, pulling the covers off of her.

She looked outside the window, realizing it was no longer raining. "Mommy... Daddy... " she whispered, tears staining her face. Without thinking, she flung herself outside the door and exited the pokecenter.

"Hm?" Dawn asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "What are you screaming about Ko-" she stopped midsentence, realizing Kokoro's bed was empty and the door was open. "Kokoro?"

She exited the room, noticing the exit/entrance door to the pokecenter was also opened. "Kokoro?" Dawn called out, feeling worry clench her stomach. "Kokoro?" she called out in a slightly louder voice, her voice trembling.

Suddenly lightning struck, a scream was heard, and a terrible pain like a kick in the stomach but much worse, struck Dawn, causing her to hold her stomach in pain. "Kokoro!" she gasped, her stomach lurching as her vision turned red.

She heard a thud next to her. Still gripping her stomach in agony, she turned her head, her vision still scarlet, and saw Paul next to her. He was on his knees, also gripping his stomach in severe pain. "Paul!" she gasped, struggling to stand up.

He followed her actions, standing up. "I heard Kokoro scream!" he growled through clenched teeth.

Dizzily, she made her way outside and into the cool night air. "Kokoro!" Paul called, gasping in pain as he did. She followed his actions, calling her name. "Kokoro!"

"Kokoro!" Paul called.

"Kokor-" she stopped, her eyes landing on a body not far away. She ran at the figure, the pain in her stomach getting worse with every step she took closer to the body that laid on the ground. "Kokoro!" she gasped, tears brimming her eyes.

The figure groaned, shifting slightly. Slowly, the girl opened her eyes. Paul now sat next to Dawn, relieved that Kokoro was okay. "Kokoro..." he muttered, smiling slightly.

She closed her eyes for a second, then opened them again. She gave a small smile, and mumbled in a voice no louder than a whisper,

"You found me... mom and dad..."

* * *

**Cliffhanger! Kind of.**

**Anyway, wow, I haven't updated in forever! And for that, I am SOOO sorry! Please forgive me! I promise I'll update sooner! And I WILL keep that promise!!!**

**So... anyone who haven't entirely given up on this story, review? Please? T.T**


	8. Bleed

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Eight  
Bleed  
**_

---

_In one's greed  
Another will bleed_

---

Dawn blinked, suddenly feeling something she didn't quite understand. Somewhat of a... bond? What is love? Something else? It was a mixture of two, maybe three, different feelings. Love, pain and understanding. Something between those three.

_"You found me, mom and dad... mom and dad... mom... dad... You found me..."_

The picture.

The dreams.

The feelings.

It all made sense now. Or did it? Maybe she was truly insane. She wished it was because she was insane. Or did she? Maybe she did want the girl she was staring at now to be her daughter.

_Her daughter._

The thought made no sense, yet Dawn knew in some world, some universe, some period of time, just some way, it had to make sense. It made no sense, but Dawn knew in some strange, paranormal way, she had to Kokoro's mother.

Suddenly, she heard a voice. No, not a voice. The wind. The wind was singing. How was that possible? She felt a chill run down her spine at the cold whisping lullaby of the wind.

_"Bleed, bleed, bleed..._

_We're waiting for you to join us..._

_Bleed your life out..._

_Bleed, Kokoro, bleed..._

_Join us, join us..._

_Join the darkness..."_

The lullaby repeated.

She felt her hands turn cold along with the rest of her body. Her body began shaking from the cold. It was so cold, too cold. How did it get cold so sudden?!

She heard a rustle next to her. She turned her head slightly, finding that Paul has the same frantic look on his face. He lifted Kokoro's arm which hung limply, lifelessly even. He examined her, lifting her up to examine her back now...

What is he doing? Dawn wondered, still shaking with coldness at the lullaby still whispering in her ears.

"Get Nurse Joy!" Paul demanded, his eyes liquid and desparate.

"Wh-why?" Dawn stuttered, somewhat shocked at his almost sudden outburst.

"She's bleeding badly! Now if you want to save out daughter GET NURSE JOY!" he yelled, holding Kokoro so her back was against his knees.

She gasped at the amount of blood flowing from the bad gash on her back, now staining Paul's jacket with the crimson blood. "R-right!" she said weakly back, feeling sick and worried.

She ran back to the pokemon center, her side aching when she got there. She ran to where Nurse Joy usually was at night but found a sticky note on the door.

_I will be gone for the night due to emergency. __My twin sister from Veilstone will be here in the morning. Bye!_

Dawn groaned, falling to her knees in despair. Feeling tears escape her eyes at the sudden crisis. "Kokoro..." she sobbed, burying her head in her hands.

Abruptly, her head snapped up, and she ran to the room she, Paul and Kokoro had stayed in. She rummaged through her backpack, looking for the gauze and medical tape Brock had given her in case of emergencies. When she found what she looking for she hurried back to Paul.

"Where's Nurse Joy?" he demanded as soon as Dawn got there. She saw that Paul had put his jacket on the gash on her back in hopes of slowing the bleeding.

"She was gone due to emergency. We'll have to carry her to the next pokemon center!" she replied in a rush. "But I brought some gauze and tape Brock left me."

Immediately, Paul took the supplies, trying his best to get the onto her back, but finding it difficult, especially in the rain. He taped the gauze into place, trying his best to put pressure on it.

"Hurry, we have to get her into the next pokemon center with a nurse joy quick!" Dawn said, feeling hopeless in the rain.

Paul quickly slid on his blood-stained jacket and placed Kokro onto his back, wrapping her small arms around his neck. "Isn't there a damn hospital in this town?!" he asked angrily.

"No, I don't think so." Dawn replied uncertainly.

As the two walked, the wind pulled them back, blowing rain at their faces along with dirt and mud. Lightning crashed into the earth, brightening the sky every now and then which made it a little more easier to see where they were going.

Dawn looked up, though she didn't know she expected to see. She heard a distant rumbling; she stopped. Paul stopped too. The rumbling got louder, and suddenly the earth was shaking. An earthquake! Instinctively, she screamed, and fell into the ground, dirtying her clothes.

The earth shook violently, rumbling angrily as it did. She gritted her teeth, closing her eyes so mud and grit wouldn't get in her eyes as the earth stirred it up. Daring to look, she peeked through her hands and found that Paul was hovering protectively over Kokoro who was now on the ground. At least thirty seconds must have past now.

She heard a cracking sound. "Huh?" As the earthquake still continued, a boulder, the size of a small car at least, was cracking at the center. She screamed shrilly, then shouted, "Paul, move!"

He looked up, seeing the cracking boulder. Swiftly, but clumsily (due to an earthquake going on), picked up Kokoro and dodged the boulder, the border smashing into hundred of pointed and sharp leaf-sized rocks. The rocks cutted pierced into Dawn and Paul's skin, blood oozing from each cut.

Wonderfully, the earth stopped shaking.

The two looked up, Kokoro still unconscious, horrified at the destruction the earthquake had caused...

---

_"Daddy?" Silence. "Dad? Are you home? Mommy?" __More Silence._

_"Kokoro, what are you doing up?" Her mother's voice asked, her shadow dancing along the wall as she walked towards Kokoro._

_"I had a bad dream..." she whimpered, a tear rolling down her cheek._

_"Don't worry, you're alright now sweetie" Her mother reassured, picking up the girl easily, carrying her back to her bed. "What was your dream about?" _

_"I dreamed about daddy..."_

_"Oh."_

_"Where is he, mommy? Is he ever coming back?"_

_Her mother smiled, a forced, strangled smile. "Sweetheart, I already told you a million times; of course he'll be back. He just needs time to take in the shock."_

_"The shock of what?"_

_"That... I'm pregnant. Again." Her mother replied._

_"Where is he?"_

_Her mother bit her lip, tears starting to form in her crystal like eyes. Quickly she blinked them away, forcing another smile for her dear daughter. "In... Kanto. He's training to become stronger."_

_"But he's already the strongest gym leader in Sinnoh. He's almost strong enough to be an Elite Four." Kokoro said, looking up innocently at her mother with those big, blue eyes._

_"You know how your daddy is; being strong isn't enough. You know how his is to be champion one day," Her mother told her. "He just needs to reach his ambition, maybe then he'll be happy."_

_Kokoro stayed silent for a moment, then asked, "Aren't we enough for him?"_

_Her mother laughed slightly, "We are enough; he just wants to prove he's enough." A tear glittered once again in her mother's eyes, this time rolling down her cheek._

_"Mommy, why are you crying?" Kokoro asked, worried. Another tear rolled down her face. "Mommy, are you alright?"_

_"I'm fine, dear. I-I'm perfectly fine!" Her mother replied, wiping away the tears quickly._

_"Mommy..." The girl whispered, her eyes filled with worry and concern for her mother._

_---_

"Briiiii! Briiiii!" A green fairy-like pokemon flew through the air, glowing white as it transported to a different time. "Briiiiiiiiii!" The pokemon gasped as she saw what she expected to be a forest.

The forest. It was gone. Nothing but cinders and burnt trees. And a large, white cross.

"Briii?" The pokemon flew over to the white cross. It stood almost twice as tall as a human and as wide as an oak tree. The paint from it wasn't fading, but it was obvious it has been there for quite some time. The pokemon looked at the word carved into the word.

Kokoro.

It stared with confusion on its face. "Briii?" It spotted a few words before the previous word.

In memory of our daughter. Rest in peace love one, mom and dad.

Kokoro.

"Briiii?" The pokemon gasped in realization. "Briii Briiiii!" The pokemon shrieked, horrified at the thought of a girl dying in a forest fire. It glanced around the ruins of trees, seeing nothing but acres of cinders and a few chunks of bark that have 'survived'. "Brriiiiii." The pokemon began glowing white again, transporting a few months before.

Nothing changed about the scene.

The pokemon glowed again, this time transporting a few years back, back to the year right before the big fire that destroyed the whole forest and a girl and her parents hearts...

* * *

**Sorry, the chapter was short this time. I really loved the reviews everybody sent me though. :) And Dawn and Paul finally know! Yay! (claps hands) And what is Celebi going to do to help possibly save Kokoro? What will happen next?? FIND OUT NEXT TIME AT CHAPTER.... uh, (scrolls up) NINE!**

**Now Review!! (pretty please with Dawn and Paul shaped sprinkles on top?)**


	9. Always

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Nine  
Always  
**_

---

_You promise to always be my protection  
I am starting to feel a connection  
_  
---

_"What happened to her?" A blue-hair, onyx eyes boy asked, only around the age of six._

_"She..." The mother started, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "D-died. Our younger selves... we couldn't save her."_

_The six year-old stared, wide eyes as he watched the tears gently roll down her pale cheeks. "Mommy..." He whispered, giving her a hug as the mother sobbed into his shoulder._

_"H-how did it happen?"_

---

Ten years of age and old enough to be a trainer, Hiroki Shinji set out with his newly obtained starter pokemon's pokeball in hand: His fiesty, hyperactive, mischievous chimchar. Of course he could have picked the lazy turtwig that was snoozing the whole time there, or the clumsy piplup that spilled the starter's food, then tripped and knocked itself out, but no, he picked chimchar.

Why?

Easy. The pokemon had a type advantage over the one and only guardian of the forest, the pokemon that transported his older sister into the past when she was only eight years old. No, he wasn't going to harm the pokemon. Nope. He just planned to find the pokemon and get it to transport him to the time his older sister was in when she met up with Celebi.

He had two missions to complete if he managed to find this pokemon: One, save Kokoro, and two, gets his parents together before he no longer existed either.

* * *

_Fire... there was fire... it was everywhere...._

_"Mommy! Daddy!" A voice screamed out, followed by violent coughing. "Mommy! Daddy! Please—help me! Mommy... Daddy... help!"_

_That voice. Why does it sound so familiar? Dawn asked herself, her eyes burning as she searched for the source of the voice. The gray smoke burned her eyes and dried her throat, starting to cough violently as the smoke filled her lungs. _

_"How did—cough!—this fire ge—cough! cough!—get here?!" Dawn exclaimed to anybody who may have heard her, tears rolling down her cheeks from her red, burning eyes._

_"H...hel...p..." The voice whispered weakly once more._

_Dawn gasped as a bright blinding white light ripped through the gray, suffocating smoke. She could still see the blinding light even as she shielded her eyes with her hands. "Wha... What is that?" Dawn whispered, squinting as she peered into the white light, black figures and shadows dancing in the brightness._

_Suddenly, she saw the girl—or angel—that she had seen so many times before in her dream: long plum color hair, eyes the deep blue color of lakes, and pale skin with long feathery wings as the blackest color she had ever seen before. Except this time Dawn had a feeling she knew who this mysterious "angel" was._

_"Kokoro..." Dawn whispered, staring at the eight year old angel. Why... Why is she an angel?_

_Suddenly, the black wings on her back began to fade, from gray to silver to white, as if it was just bleached, the wings having a new golden glow to it. The depressing stone gray cloak she wore began to fade too until it was the same color of the wings, minus the golden glow. _

_The angel gasped, falling to her knees as the wing from her back began to dissolve to nothing but white feathers. White feathers clashed with the ash-covered ground, sending the cinders into the air. The purple hair angel gasped louder, grabbing her heart as her cloak faded to tattered clothes that were all ripped up and covered in soot. Her pale arms, legs and face were now covered in smut and she lay still and lifeless on the ground_

_"No..." Dawn whispered, finally understanding the meaning of the dream._

_Suddenly a shadow appeared over Kokoro's fallen body, and instead of finding herself looking at the dead body of an eight year old girl with purple hair and blue eyes, she found herself staring at the body of a boy with soot-covered hair that reached his shoulders. The boy's face was turned the opposite way and his back was facing her, not allowing Dawn to get a good look at the boy's face._

_"Wait... that looks like..." Dawn's eyes widened. "PAUL!"_

* * *

"Hey, are you okay?"

That voice… Dawn thought, her chest sweaty and falling up and down in an irregular pattern. When did I… fall asleep? Dawn blinked, her vision foggy as she tried to decipher the figure in front of her.

"Paul…" Dawn breathed, tears prickling the corner of her eyes as she made out Paul's plum color hair, his lightly tanned face and his sharp onyx eyes.

Her tears fell, sliding smoothly down her dirty face as she recalled her dream. Suddenly more tears were coming, dripping off her chin and onto her dirty clothes and the muddy ground beneath her. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed. Was it from sadness, hoplessness—or relief? It was definitely from relief….

"Huh?" Paul was taken aback from the weeping girl in front of him. He did not expect her to suddenly start crying for absolutely no reason. Okay, maybe she wasn't exactly crying for no reason—they were dirty, lost, with scrapes and bruises, and to make matters worse, there was an eight year old who was bleeding her life out.

Paul's muscles tensed, his teeth grinding together, unsure of what to do next. Hesitantly he reached his hand out, placing it on her shoulder. He was about to ask what was wrong but she spoke before he got the chance.

"You're okay!" she gasped, a small smile gracing her lips as she engulfed the teen in a hug.

Paul blinked in shock, jerking away automatically out of instinct as he felt a strange tingling run down his spine. The girl continued to sob, soaking his already grimy jacket with her tears.

Paul's face felt warm and his body felt hot at how close she was to him. Her arms were wrapped around his torso in a hug, her face snuggled into her chest as she cried. Her chest was pressed extremely close to his torso and her legs which were folded beneath her touched his knees.

Paul's breathing hitched slightly as Dawn pressed herself even closer to him, her aroma—dirt mixed with the pleasant and strong smell of strawberries—surrounded him. Uncertainly and hesitantly, he wrapped one arm around her waist, meanwhile his other hand was on her back, patting her gently as he soothed, "It's okay…I'm here…"

He wasn't good at comforting, nonetheless comforting a _girl_, but he could tell the girl really did need comforting. She was in a state of despair—she must have been to be crying and looking for comfort in _him_, the last person he would turn to for comfort if he happened to be somebody else.

"_I'm here…"_

The words and the meaning of the words put together were like a stranger to him, for he was never there for anybody, and yet there he was, saying the words to the blunette who was crying uncontrollably in his arms.

…And it felt right to say.

Because he was there for her. He was there for the girl who was the friend of his rival. He was there for the coordinator with the piplup. He was there for the girl crying in his arms. He was there for…

Dawn.

"Where's Kokoro?" Dawn asked, sniffing as she reluctantly pulled away from Paul. She wiped the tears away from her eyes, rubbing at them. She ignored the fluffy, giddy feeling that took place in her chest, the feeling that warmed her body. She turned towards Paul, her heart skipping a beat as she did, her face going warm.

Paul ignored the slight disappointment he felt when Dawn pulled away. Instead, he recalled where and when he last saw her. "I saw her about ten minutes ago, over there—" He pointed behind him where there was mud-covered grass growing behind him. "—she was sleeping last time I checked."

"Ah." Dawn nodded, rubbing at her eyes again. "Um…w-we should probably check on her…" Dawn whispered, avoiding Paul's eyes from embarrassment.

She stood up, groaning between her teeth as her joints cracked. She bent her back backwards, her spine making a cracking sound. The ache from her muscles slowly began to fade away.

"This way." Paul stood up without any trouble, already making his way to where Kokoro's sleeping form should be. Dawn said nothing, just giving a small nod as she followed him.

Sure enough, there was Kokoro curled up; next to her was a medium sized white rock that she was currently using as a pillow to rest her head on, hugging her knees as she murmured incoherent words under her breath.

Dawn blinked, a frown taking place on her face.

I must be going crazy, Dawn concluded. I…I actually thought she could have been…my daughter…mine and Paul's daughter…

At the mention of Paul, Dawn took a quick peek at him, as if to read his thoughts. He was staring at the girl like he pretty much stares at everyone and everything else. With a I-couldn't-care-less expression.

My thoughts just got lost in the adrenaline of the situation, Dawn concluded, her frown deepening. Kokoro couldn't possibly be my daughter, even if she is from the future. And she most definitely can't be _mine and Paul's daughter. _

Paul couldn't care less about me, Dawn thought sadly, sighing mentally in her head.

"_I'm here…"_

His words flashed in her mind, the words he had whispered to her when he was attempting (and succeeding) to comfort her.

She glanced at Paul again.

Or maybe he does care about me… maybe he cares about me just a little bit, Dawn thought to herself, a small smile forming on her lips. Her chest swelled in joy at this thought, a small bubble of hope rising…

Maybe…just maybe…

"We should probably wake her up," Paul muttered quietly, already bending down to shake the eight-year old. "Her wound had stopped bleeding, but we don't want it to get infected."

Dawn nodded in agreement, bending down beside him to help wake Kokoro. "Kokoro… Kokoro… wake up, Kokoro…" Dawn muttered gently, shaking the young girl.

"Don't wanna…wake up…" The girl muttered, blinking drowsily up at them as she slowly began to wake up. She blinked again, sitting upright. "…Dawn? …Paul?" She breathed, blinking against the harsh sunlight that shone through the coal gray clouds.

"Yeah, it's us…" Dawn muttered, suddenly feeling very drowsy. She fought against the sleepiness that had suddenly filled her and blinked rapidly, even pinching herself to keep herself from falling asleep on her knees.

"We have to go look for a pokécenter or hospital," Paul told her sternly. "That way that cut on your abdomen won't get bacteria in it and get infected."

"Can't I sleep just a little longer?" The girl asked weakly, shifting slightly as she got ready to fall back asleep. "I'm so tired…"

Paul sighed, muttering a "fine", but the purple hair girl was already back asleep, snoring softly as she continued to mumble unintelligible words and grunts under her breath.

Dawn stood up, shivering slightly from the breeze that came with the thunderclouds that hovered above her head. She walked back to the place she had apparently fallen asleep on, heaving a sigh as she laid down in the grass, her arms folded beneath her head. She closed her eyes, breathing in the damp air.

She heard the soft thuds of Paul's shoes as he made his way in her direction. He stopped right in front of her, staring blankly down at her.

Dawn sighed again, sitting upright as she hugged her knees, resting her chin there.

"What's with you?" Paul questioned in a surprisingly gentle tone. "You've been acting strangely since you woke up. Plus, you kept mumbling something in your sleep that sounded like 'fire'."

Dawn shivered, hugging her knees even more tightly as she recalled her dream. Suddenly there was a light weight on her shoulder as Paul sat down next to her, resting his hand on her shoulder.

Dawn blinked, blinking away her tears as she remembered the boy in the fire, the soot-covered boy with singed, soot-covered hair laying sprawled on the ground. It was so… frightening… even more frightening than the other eerie dreams she have had. She guessed it was more frightening because she had an idea on who the boy in the dream was, the boy that was dead from the fire in the dream.

Before she could stop them the tears were once again sliding down her cheeks and dripping off her chin. She did not bother wiping them away, instead letting them run freely down her face.

Paul was once again startled by her reaction. "Why are you crying?" He asked in a quiet yet also demanding tone.

Dawn's shoulders tensed and her fingernail dug into her arm. "I… I had a bad dream…" she whimpered, closing her eyes for a few seconds before reopening them. She continued, "There was fire everywhere… there was this girl in the fire but then she disappeared and—" Her voice cracked and she had to swallow twice before she could finish. "And then you were in the fire. Dead."

Paul's eyes widened, his grip on her shoulder tightening from her words. He blinked and then relaxed his grip on her shoulder. He frowned, unable to find a response to this statement.

"The dream was so realistic," Dawn whispered, her shoulders trembling as she continued, "It was like I was actually there! I-I was so scared… I was scared that you may have actually been…" She gulped, squeezing her eyes shut. "That you could have dead."

With that said she broke into a fit of sobs, her fingernails digging into her skin, leaving the skin around that area as red as a strawberry as her shoulders shook.

Paul stared at the girl in shock. His usually indifferent face was rigid, his eyes wide and his lips were separated by about half a centimenter as if he was about to say something. He couldn't do anything except watch the blue-hair girl weep into her arms and knees.

She was frightened from the dream because she actually thought he was…dead. She was scared that the dream was real and he was really dead.

She cared about him.

Paul frowned, unable to name the emotion that swelled his chest. He felt as if he was made of nothing but helium which filled him like a balloon, making him light-headed. Paul had a feeling this emotion was a mix of gratitude and… and… and… Paul couldn't name the second emotion that was mixed with the gratitude.

The gratitude for caring about him.

Unconsciously, Paul wrapped his arms around the crying girl, pulling her close to him as he stroked her blue locks. "I'm here…" Paul whispered again, letting the girl cry into his chest for the second time that day. "I'm here…"_ I'll always be here,_ Paul added in his mind.

* * *

Hiroki smirked, spotting the pokémon he was looking for. Finally, after three months of looking for the pokémon (while challenging some of the Sinnoh gyms, of course) he had finally found the pokémon that transported his older sister into the future. He found the voice of the forest.

Celebi.

"Chimchar, let's go!" Hiroki threw his pokémon's poké ball, releasing the fire monkey which repeated it's name in delight, bouncing around hyperactively as it waited for it's trainer to command an attack.

"Ember!" Hiroki ordered.

"Chim-charrr!" The pokémon opened it's mouth releasing bullet-sized and bullet-shaped fireballs, aiming directly at the green fairy.

"Briiii!" It turned around, barely managing to dodge the incoming ember attack. "Briii briiii!" It closed it's eyes tightly, beginning to glow a white color.

Hiroki's eyes went wide as he realized what it was about to do. Quickly he returned his chimchar, running towards the glowing pokémon that was about to transport into either the past or the future.

"Brriiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" It yelled once more, and suddenly a strange sensation filled his body and he began to feel light-headed. There was a flash followed by another flash and suddenly Hiroki could no longer recognize his surroundings.

* * *

**GACK!! I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE!!!! FORGIVE ME~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!!**

**Okay, I am going to apologize for two things!: One, for the late update *sweat drops* and two, for taking off chapter nine and ten *sweat drops again*. Haha, yeah... I have my reasons for doing that... Main reason was because the plot I had planned was too complicated (you know it's complicated when I begin to get confused over it, lol). Besides, this was my original plan for the story. Also, I rewrote chapter one but I didn't write anything extra that would later affect the plot. Haha, nope, I just added more foreshadowing. ;_;**

**Anybody who bothered to read this story, review please? **


	10. Fire

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Ten  
Fire  
**_

---

_Don't call me a liar  
Just trust me when I say there will be fire  
_  
---

Hiroki frowned at the dark green trees that surrounded him. Is this the past or the future? He glanced around again and sighed in frustration when he couldn't find anything that gave him any indication to what year it currently was.

Standing back up, Hiroki dusted himself off and checked his surroundings. After a minute of studying the trees around him and the winding paths, he started walking down one of the dusty paths.

Hiroki stopped as he came across a wooden sign in the middle of a path with the name of the forest painted in red.

_**Angel Forest**_

"Angel Forest…" Hiroki muttered, recalling a recent memory of his.

"_The forest that burned down was called 'Angel Forest'. I forget the story behind it, but Angel Forest was named that thousands of years ago. The trees were the tallest in Sinnoh because they were thousands of years old. Like I said, I forgot the story behind the name, but I believe it had something to do with the belief of an angel being spotted in the forest, protecting the forest and the trees._

"_I heard the story from my mom. Now when I hear the story I think that the angel they believed to protect the forest and its trees was actually Celebi. It was just too bad that the… 'Angel' couldn't protect your sister, Hiroki… Angel Forest was the forest she died in. She just couldn't escape the fire… I think the name suits the forest now, kind of… What do you think Hiroki?"_

"The forest isn't burned down yet…" Hiroki muttered, blinking at the sign as if he couldn't believe it. "That means… Kokoro isn't dead yet…" Hiroki smiled at the sign. "I can save her!"

_I just have to find her before its too late! _Hiroki thought determinely, releasing his Skarmory from it_'_s poké ball. The pokémon materialized in front of the blue hair boy.

"Skarmory, I need you to scan this whole forest! Let me know if you see any other trainers in this forest, got it?" The steel bird pokémon nodded, flapping its wings as it did what his trainer told him to do.

_I'm going to find her and I'll save her…_

* * *

"Kokoro, get up, we have to go." Dawn pleaded the lavender hair girl, shaking the sleeping eight year old. Dawn sighed, giving up on trying to wake up the girl.

"It's like she wants to get an infection!" Dawn muttered sourly. "Well, time for plan B!" Dawn chirped as she released her long-forgotten blue penguin pokémon, piplup. "Use bubbles on Kokoro, Piplup!"

The pokémon yawned, stretching its aching back before actually releasing the dozens of bubbles from its small beak. "Luuupppp!" The pokémon's shrill yell echoed all over the forest.

"Ack! Stop, stop, stop! I'm up, I'm up mom!" Kokoro sprung up from the ground she was previously sleeping on, her hair and clothes now soaking wet. The sour look on Kokoro's face reminded Dawn of the look Paul gave Ash half the time.

Dawn blushed as she remembered Paul, feeling herself shake her head as she shook off the memory of his arms around her as she cried.

_That was the second time I cried in his arms and the second time he had to comfort me! _Dawn thought critically. _He probably got the idea that I'm weak now, too. That I'm going to cry every five seconds… _Dawn thought sadly to herself as she sighed at the grass.

"Oh, it's you." Kokoro frowned at Dawn, her eyebrows furrowing together. "I… I thought you were somebody else…"

Dawn shook her head, a ghost of a smile gracing her features. "Nah… it's just me. Not your mom or dad… yet."

Kokoro nodded somberly, staring blankly at the grass with sad dark eyes.

"C'mon Kokoro," Dawn grabbed her hand, gently hoisting her up. "Let's get going before the sun sets again! You need to get that wound on your stomach healed before you get an infection."

Kokoro nodded again, another sad sigh escaping her lips.

Dawn frowned, glaring at the muddy earth beneath her. She hated how she just couldn't cheer Kokoro up! Hated it, hated it, _hated it!_ It made her feel so worthless!

"No need to worry, Kokoro!" Dawn reassured her, wrapping an arm around the smaller girl's shoulders. "We'll find your parents soon enough, and I bet once we do they will treat you to ice cream and cake and all that good stuff!"

"Do you really think I'll ever see my parents again?" Kokoro asked, finally meeting Dawn's eyes. Her eyes were wide and sad, and looked as if they were on the brim of tears.

"H-huh? Of course! Why would you not ever see them again?" Dawn's voice cracked as she continued, "We are all well and healthy – well, okay maybe not exactly well and healthy, b-but you get what I mean, right? We're still alive!"

Kokoro gave a tiny nod, not yet completely convinced.

Dawn repeated her last statement in her mind, her dream from last night coming back to mind.

My dream… is it a sign…?

Dawn glanced at the girl beside her, frowning as she took in her plum-color hair, her sad night-black eyes, and her tattered appearance…

_Suddenly, she saw the girl—or angel—that she had seen so many times before in her dream: long plum color hair, eyes the deep blue color of lakes, and pale skin with long feathery wings as the blackest color she had ever seen before._

Dawn's eyes widened, the dream evoking a story her mother had told her when she was a few years younger than Kokoro was at the moment.

"_Mommy, how come that forest is called 'Angel Forest'? Does an angel live in that forest?" A five-year old Dawn questioned, climbing onto her mother's lap._

_Johanna muted the News which was currently doing an investigation on how a fire in Angel Forest was started, getting in story mode for her precious five-year old daughter._

"_I've told you the story about Virgin Mary, right sweetie?" _

"_Yep! Mary was the one who gave birth to Jesus!" The five-year old chirped knowingly, nodding her head vigorously as she waited for her mother to continue._

"_Well, there was this one woman who gave birth in Angel Forest according to legend. Her name was Grace." _

"_Ooh! Grace is such a pretty name!'_

_Johanna chuckled, continuing as if she had never been interrupted, "She died while giving birth—" "Aww! That's so sad!" "—but before she died she told her husband to name the baby 'Kokoro'."_

Kokoro.

The name repeated in Dawn's head.

"_She told him she would watch over him and their daughter. One day a villager who was taking a walk in the forest claimed he saw an angel. The next day the King of Sinnoh—" "Sinnoh had a king?" "—took a walk in the forest and said he saw a girl who was trapped between a wall of fire."_

_Dawn gasped, her eyes growing wide in excitement as the climax of the short little story worked it's way up._

"_The king didn't know what to do for the girl who was surrounded by fire, but he said somehow the fire went out - just vanished - and the girl was safe. The king ran to the unconscious girl's side. When he did he saw a girl around only twenty with fair hair, pale skin and… wings! He saw an angel!"_

"_It turned out Kokoro - the daughter of the mother that died while giving birth in the forest - was the girl who was surrounded by the wall of fire, only to be saved by her Guardian Angel – her mother." _

"That's strange…" Dawn murmured out loud.

"What's strange?" Dawn snapped out of her thoughts, looking up and blushed as she found herself staring into Paul's dark, curious eyes.

"Oh… nothing, nothing at all!" Dawn lied, nervous laughter erupting from her, earning a raised eyebrow from both Paul and Kokoro.

Dawn shrieked as the roar of thunder filled her ears. She shrieked again as she felt rain start to pelt her skin.

"Damn it, not another storm!" Paul cursed, grabbing Dawn's hand as he led the blunette and Kokoro to the thicker part of the forest so they could shield themselves from the storm under one of the trees

Dawn's cheeks flushed with color as Paul took off his jacket and laid it on her shoulders. Her body was enveloped in warmth, and despite the warmth she felt, she shivered as his hand brushed her skin.

"Th-Thank you…" Dawn muttered gratefully, shyly glancing up at him and his mysterious dark eyes.

A grunt was his response.

Dawn's eyes widened, her own scream filling her ears as a lightning bolt less than thirty feet away crashed nearby, blinding her with it's white light. Seconds after the earth rumbled underneath them like a small earthquake along with a booming rumble.

She hated lightning and she hated thunder! She likes rain, but lightning and thunder was what she couldn't stand.

Dawn was genuinely surprised as she felt strong arms wrap around her waist, pulling her closer to him. _Him _being Paul. Dawn stared at the boy with a dumbfounded look, but he said nothing, instead staring into the rain that was muddying up the ground with it's frequence, sudden storms.

Dawn smiled slightly as she leaned on the man's shoulder, inhaling his musky scent. _Maybe… maybe this is a new start for us…! _Dawn thought; hope filling her chest as she watched the rain with Paul and Kokoro who stayed silent the entire time. Dawn sighed contently, closing her eyes as she listened to the drum-like beat of rain.

_The hiss of fire filled Dawn's ears along with the strong acrid stench of smoke which overwhelmed most of her senses, her head screaming in agony, her eyes burning, her throat dry and sore, and her muscles aching and worn out, her bones protesting in pain with the slightest movement._

_Fire surrounded Dawn, sizzling, popping, crackling… laughing at her… laughing at her, it's bright flames flickered and licked her skin, causing Dawn to shriek out from the throbbing pain her arm now felt. It mocked her, laughing it's malicious laugh as it's flames touched her leg. Another scream filled the forest, tears leaking and rolling down her soot-covered face, her eyes burning from the glaring fire._

"_What is this suppose to mean?!" Dawn screamed at the fire._

_As if to answer her, the fire flared even brighter and bigger than before, whispering it's dead, crackly words to her. _

_Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss…_

_Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss… _

_Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss… _

_It sang it's song to her, continuing to taunt her with it's flames, burning her arms, her legs and everything throbbed… Even where she wasn't burned throbbed in pain from the fire's intense heat._

_Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss… _

_Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss… _

'_You play with fire… you **will** get burned…'_

"_Huh?" Dawn looked up, fighting against the burning glare of the fire, ignoring the burning of her eyes as the hiss of the fire turned to the hissing of words…_

'_One plus one minus one still equals one.'_

"_Huh? Wh-what does that mean?" she shrieked to the fire, her heart thumping in her chest._

'_It will do no good pretending, because nobody has a happy ending…'_

_What does it mean?!_

_A tree branch snapped, almost falling on the blunette but she just barely managed to dodge in time. _

'_You can't change the future… One will be sacrificed for the other… Destiny cannot be denied, or else somebody else pays the price.'_

_Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss… _

_Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss… _

'_There's a secret to deceiving destiny…' _

_Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss… _

_Dawn's vision fogged as her senses were finally overwhelmed by the harsh smell of smoke, filling her lungs with smoke as she coughed violently, holding her aching sides. Every breath was painful… every move was agonizing… every thought made her head throb… and she could only hear one word as she fell into a world of darkness._

_Fire… Fire… Fire… Fire… Fire… Fire…_

"Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire. Fir—"

"Dawn! Dawn! Dawn! Snap out of it! Dawn!" Dawn blinked, suddenly aware that she was being shook with big strong hands. She blinked again, clearing her vision to see Paul staring concernly at her as he continued to shake her.

"Is she okay?" Kokoro questioned, glancing worriedly at the confused blunette.

The shaking came to a cease.

"Dawn, was is wrong with you? You started muttering 'fire' repeatedly for a few minutes – are you okay?"

Dawn opened her mouth, ready to reply, when her voice was drowned out by the loudest roar of thunder yet. There was a blinding light, and Dawn shrieked when she saw a flickering orange glow on one of the tree's branches.

Fire.

Dawn shrieked again as fire rained down from the same branch, catching the damp ground on fire. Dawn cursed as she realized that the rain had lighten up by a lot, so wouldn't do much good against putting the fire out.

Dawn shrieked slightly as Paul roughly grabbed her arm, dragging her away from the fire. Dawn grabbed Kokoro's hand, squeezing her hand to help the young frightened girl who's dark eyes were currently as big as an owl's.

Dawn yelped as the fire spread. There were three separate fires: one from behind, one from up high in the tree, and one in front. They weren't completely surrounded yet though since it was still three separate fires.

"What are we going to do?" Dawn's own eyes grew wide as she found herself staring at _real _fire that cracked, popped and hissed.

_Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss… _

Dawn glanced at Paul, her heart sinking as she saw the clear panic in his eyes that not even he could hide at the moment. "This way!" He grumbled, slipping his hands into hers as he ran towards two blazing fire with a five foot gap between them.

Dawn tripped a few times but didn't fall. Kokoro's hand tightened around Dawn and she yelped when she fell, cutting her already bruised knee. Kokoro's hand slipped from Dawn's.

"Wait! Paul, stop! Kokoro!" Dawn yelled.

Paul stopped and turned around, his eyes reflecting fear as a branch that was on fire fell about a foot away. The damp grass immediately blazed with life, a wall of fire separating them from Kokoro. At first the small fire and could have easily been put out with a simple water gun, but then it flared as dry bark and twigs from starlies' nests fell into it's greedy paws, feeding and growing the blazes.

_"AHHHHHH!"_

"NO, NO, NO! This can't be happening!" Dawn screamed, tears pouring from her azure eyes as she released her piplup.

"Piplup, whirlpool!"

"Piiiiip…" The pokémon yelled as it glowed a blue-white color. "LUUUUUPPPP!" The pokémon opened it's mouth, a spiraling current of water coming out from it's mouth. The water dampened the fire, but even so the fire continued blazing strongly, devouring every twig and stick in it's path, leaving the earth black and charred.

"Piplup!" Piplup shrieked as a ball of fire dropped from the sky, setting a patch of grass on fire. Piplup stumbled backwards, tripping over itself and landing on his back.

"Ahh! Piplup, watch out!" Dawn yelled at the penguin pokémon as another branch on fire from nearby fell, nearly falling on Piplup. "Return Piplup!" Dawn pocketed the pokémon's poké ball, deciding it was too dangerous out to risk having Piplup out.

"Kokoro, are you alright?!" Paul yelled over the roaring and crackling of the fire.

The rain came to a cease, not even one sprinkle of rain falling from the sky now.

'This weather has lousy timing!' Dawn thought despairingly to herself.

"Kokoro!"

Dawn and Paul heard violent coughing come from the other side of the fire followed by a choked, "I-I'm f-fine!" followed by even more dry coughs.

"Koko—" Dawn shrieked as strong hands pulled her back and out of the way of burning debri. Dawn stumbled back, falling into her savior's arms.

"Are you stupid?!" Paul's harsh voice yelled at her. "You can't go out there when there is something burning falling every ten seconds! Are you trying to get killed?!"

"No!" Dawn defended in a raspy voice. "But we have to save Kokoro – she will _die_ if we don't do _something!_" Dawn sobbed.

"We're not going to leave her, but we can't just rush out in the middle of a blazing fire! We'll find some way around and tackle the fire from behind and rescue Kokoro, okay? We'll figure something out!"

This time his words didn't help soothe the sobbing girl who shook from the graveness of the situation…

* * *

"_Skarrrrr! Skarrrrr!" _Hiroki followed his skarmory's piercing shriek, his eyes widening as he got a whiff of smoke. Oh no! Hiroki picked up his pace as he spotted an orange glow about fifty feet away.

"_Skarrrrrr! Skarrrrr!" _Hiroki's eyes widened at the fire that blazed maliciously in front of him, snapping and popping loudly, embers flying everywhere.

"_Somebody help me! Please!" _A feminine voice sobbed nearby.

Is that–?!

Hiroki followed the source of the voice, twisting and turning through the tall smoking trees.

"_H-Help! Pl-please… Help…" _

Hiroki dodged a final tree, stopping in front of another raging wall of fire.

"_H-Help…"_

"Floatzel, go!" Hiroki threw his poké ball in which a weasel-like pokémon began to take shape from the red light. "Water pulse, let's go!"

Floatzel nodded, smirking as a ball of water began to form between it's palms. "Zellll!" Was it's battle cry as it aimed the ball of water on the fire's hissing surface. More hissing erupted from the flames as the water hit the fire, a big splash dampening the fire.

"Use water pulse until the flames are out!" Hiroki ordered, crossing his arms calmly across his chest.

Floatzel obeyed as he created the balls of water, even quicker and more powerful than before. Three water pulses later and the wall of flame that was recently blocking his path were gone.

Hiroki nodded at his pokémon in approval before returning Floatzel back to his poké ball along with his Skarmory. Hiroki's heart raced as he spotted a sprawled figure on the ground.

He raced to the figures side, his heart pounding as he tenderly turned the girl over.

_I hope I'm not too late… _Hiroki thought to himself, panic filling his chest.

* * *

**I wrote this whole chapter today, and I refused to quit writing this chpter until I finished it. :P Sorry if there's any mistakes! 8D; There should be no spelling mistakes, but there might be a few grammar mistakes (I don't trust my spell check on grammar - it have missed some mistakes before). **

**And thanks for the loving reviews everybody! :D Now, share the love and review some more. **


	11. Altered

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Eleven  
Altered  
**_

---

_In which time will be altered  
And feelings will be discovered  
_  
---

Smoked clouded and burned Dawn's eyes as she ran, her and Paul's hands locked together as they ran through the jungle-like trees as they struggled to avoid falling tree branches that had caught on fire while also looking for a way back to Kokoro.

Paul separated his hand from Dawn's momentarily as they came to two paths that twisted like snakes into the forest that was burning rapidly from the fire.

"Which way do we go?!" Dawn cried out, sobbing noisily, unable to hide her panic and obvious worry for the younger purple hair girl.

"Shut up! I'm thinking!" Paul snapped back.

"This way!" He yelled, grabbing her hand once more as he led her down the first path, half walking, and half jogging as they searched for their way back to Kokoro.

"We are going the wrong way!" Dawn screamed at Paul through sobs, yelping from fright as a burning piece of bark and more burning twigs landed nearby, creating a _pop!-_ing sound and more hissing. "We never should have left her!"

"_Goddamn it Dawn! Would you_ _**shut the **_**hell**_** UP!**__" _Paul screamed at the blunette, pulling his hand away from hers once more as he whipped around, glaring fiercely her.

Dawn's eyes were wide from shock and her lower lip began to tremble. She bit down on it, but even so another tear escaped her eye, rolling down her already tear-stained and grimy, soot-covered cheek.

"I'm sorry…" Dawn whispered, falling to her knees. "I-I just feel so… so… _hopeless! _I don't know what to do! I can't help Kokoro and if we don't do something or find her soon she'll die! _Die!_"

Paul was slightly taken aback as the girl began to sob once more, her shoulders trembling out of her control, and tears flooding her eyes and falling onto the rain-soaked ground.

He instantly felt guilty for yelling at her.

Dawn continued in a shaky voice, "I-if we d-d-don't do s-something…" She sniffed a few times, continuing in a slightly more steady tone, "And I-if she doesn't die from the actual fire, sh-she'll die from too much smoke exhalation o-or from her b-burns!"

Unable to stand her looking so… pitiful, Paul grabbed her arm and yanked her up. Dawn yelped slightly from shock, clumsily falling into his chest. Paul pushed her slightly away, but continued to hold the same wrist he used to yank her up. He tilted her chin upwards so she was now staring her teary eyes into his stern dark ones.

"She's going to be alright, Dawn." He told her in a surprisingly gentle tone. "We will save her…"

Dawn sniffed, turning her gaze onto the ground, unable to look into his anymore. "But… but if we can't save her? What then?" More tears leaked from her eyes at the thought of being unable to save her.

"All you ever do is cry." Paul said softly, his voice slightly discouraging.

Dawn knew this was true. All she ever does is cry.

Why do I have to be so emotional? Dawn whined to herself, blinking back more tears. Paul must think I'm pathetic… I can't even control my own damn emotions…

"You are too emotional. There's no reason to be so." Dawn looked back up into Paul's eyes, frowning from confusion. Paul's features softened as he spoke, "Everything will be alright. I will make sure everything will be alright."

Dawn said nothing, letting her eyes fall to the ground. And with that said, Paul dropped Dawn's wrist, letting it fall to her side. "Let's go," He said, his voice stern once again.

"…Paul?" Dawn spoke up timidly, letting her eyes travel back to his.

"Hm?"

"Th-thank you…" she murmured.

Unconsciously, the corner of Paul's lips began to upturn in a small smirk - or maybe it was… actually a smile? "Now's not the time for 'thank you's. Time is running out, we have to save Kokoro…"

Dawn nodded, smiling slightly as she jogged up to catch with Paul, dodging the small patches of fire that was attempting to devour the soaked grass.

"Let's go then!" Dawn yelled, a new determination flashing in her eyes.

* * *

Kokoro blinked, her breathing fast and uneven as she struggled to breathe in the smoky air that clouded and burned her eyes. Suddenly in front of her eyes there was a blur of blue hair and blue eyes. She blinked at the figure, her eyes widening and her heart pounding even more painfully against her chest as she recognized the person in front of her.

"Hi-Hiroki?" She gasped out.

B-But he's bigger than me! Last time I saw him he was three! _THREE! _And now he's older than _me! _Kokoro thought disbelievingly to herself.

The blue-haired male nodded as his older (or younger now, technically) sister gasped out his name. "Don't worry, you'll be okay!" He reassured her, scooping his younger (but supposed to be older) sister in his arms.

Kokoro blinked at him, voicing her question. "But… why? Why are you here? Why are you older than me?" She frowned.

Wasn't she the older one? Wasn't he the younger one? This _was_ Hiroki, wasn't it? Even though Hiroki was only a toddler, barely three, last time she saw him, she knew she would recognize her younger brother anywhere.

"I'll explain later…" Hiroki told her, coughing slightly as he breathed in more smoke. He began to dodge burning branches and falling debri, picking up his pace as he realized he was lost, didn't know the way out of the forest.

His mind spun from the smoke, his breathing becoming rather uneven just like his sister's breathing. There was now smoke everywhere, thick in the sky, the forest - everywhere. The smoke had become an acid-stinking fog. Cinders fell everywhere, some small, others coming in big-chunks. The smaller pieces of Cinders just fell on his clothes and in his hair, but the larger chunks of cinder he had to dodge.

"Damn it!" The boy cursed under his breath. Dodging as a flaming branch nearly fell on him and Kokoro who had went unconscious in his arms.

With all the smoke clouding the forest, Hiroki could hardly see his feet as he jogged while looked for a way out of the forest…

Unbeknownst to Hiroki though, a golden heart-shaped locket suddenly came unclasped from Kokoro's neck, falling to the damp, cinder-covered forest ground…

* * *

**Xx. ****In Snowpoint City**** .xX**

"Wow…" Ash breathed as he sipped at a warm mug of hot chocolate, watching the TV with wide, worried eyes.

"Hm? What's wrong, Ash?" Brock turned to the younger male then fixed his eyes on the television screen that was currently displaying flickering flames along with dark gray smoke. "Is that a fire?" Brock questioned, alarmed as the camera zoomed out and displayed just how big the fire really was, having nearly the whole forest on fire!

Ash nodded once, saying grimly, "It's a huge fire in this one forest called 'Angel Forest'."

"Angel Forest is near Veilstone City…" Brock murmured thoughtfully, tearing his eyes away from the cute blond reporter to watch the burning forest.

"That's why I'm worried. They suspect the fire started from lightning since it's been storming there for a while now." Ash told the breeder. He crossed his arms in front of him, his chocolate brown eyes showing just how worried he was for Dawn and the little purple-haired girl, heck was even a little worried for his rival. "I just hope Dawn, Paul and Kokoro weren't in the forest when the fire started…"

Brock nodded grimly in agreement.

* * *

There was fire everywhere. There was smoke everywhere. The flames were like a flickering, blazing ghost - reminding it of its presence whenever it could. Burning debri falling from the sky, hissing in its usual ugly voice, its flames crackling and laughing at their fear… Meanwhile the smoke was like a thick fog, suffocating them with their smoke and blinding them with its dark gray blanket.

Both of them had trouble breathing since for one, they were running as fast as they could while dodging the fire and two, they were breathing in smoke which did no good to their health or breathing, especially while running.

"I think she was somewhere around here!" Dawn managed to say between painful coughs, blinking back tears caused by the smoke that was irritating her eyes.

Suddenly Paul stopped dead in his tracks, causing the blunette to bump into him and stumble backwards, falling on her already sore butt.

"Oww…" Dawn bit her lip, managing to get up, despite her muscles that shrieked from the day's harshness to her. "Why… why did you stop?" Dawn asked weakly.

Paul said nothing, so instead, began to follow his gaze.

Her eyes widened, her heart pounding wildly as she spotted a familiar gold necklace on the ground, partially being covered from soot and singed twigs.

Kokoro's necklace…

"No…" Dawn breathed, tears now falling freely from her azure eyes, her whole body began to tremble. "No, no, no… Th-this can't be… happening…"

"She could still be alive…"

Dawn snapped her head up in surprise at Paul's words. She tilted her head to the side, sniffing as she stared curiously at the lavender hair man's back. She turned her gaze back on the necklace.

"You're right…" Dawn muttered, furrowing her eyebrows at the necklace and frowning at the lone sight of the object. "There's no body… it's just her necklace…"

_CRACK!!_

Dawn snapped her head up once again at the sound of the thundering crack.

"DAWN! Watch out!" Dawn turned around, her eyes widening as a burning tree branch began to fall from high up in the tree, coming straight towards her… Dawn was frozen in place from shock and fright - like a deer in a headlight.

Suddenly Dawn was roughly yanked away just as the giant branch was about to crush her. Dawn stumbled as she tripped over a stone, falling onto her savior. She trembled, her eyes still wide from fright, hiccupping and gasping as she struggled to breathe.

She was almost killed…

"Are you stupid?!" A harsh voice yelled at her suddenly. The owner of the voice began to shake her, as if trying to shake some sense in her. Dawn said nothing; for once she was truly speechless… "You could have gotten yourself killed! You could have gotten crushed and killed by that thing! You didn't even try to move!"

Dawn took in a sharp breath of air, her pounding heart slowly returning to normal - or half-way normal. Her breathing still came irregular and slightly faster than it should be, but it wasn't pounding at a thousand miles per hour pace like before.

"Th-thank you…" Dawn muttered between breaths. Dawn forced herself to look Paul in the eye when she said this. "I-I… I'm sorry that I… I'm being so… so worthless." Dawn managed to say, every word painful to say as she exhaled more smoke.

There was a moment of silence before Paul finally said, "Just try not to be so worthless from now on." Despite the words being harsh, his voice was soft and gentle just like before, causing a smile to grace her lips.

Weakly, Dawn pulled away from Paul, stumbling away to receive Kokoro's locket.

"Oh crap…"

"What is it?" Dawn turned to Paul. As she did, she realized just what the problem was. Panic began to inflate her chest, horror setting in her eyes as she spun quickly around, scanning the area. "Crap! Crap! Crap!" Dawn cursed, squeezing her eyes shut and then reopening them, _praying_ the scene in front of her would change. "No! No! No!"

"Calm down!" Paul snapped, yanking her arm for who-knows-how-many-times, intertwining his fingers so the two wouldn't get separated from each other - not that they could since they were basically _trapped!_

A blazing, crackling, hissing wall of _demon_ fire surrounded them. The wall spitted at them, hissing ugly sounds as they devoured the helpless trees in the forest. The wall of fire surrounded them from behind, in front, up high - it was _everywhere!_

"Let me see your piplup!" Paul ordered. Dawn stumbled for her blue penguin's poké ball, and despite her fear that her starter pokémon may get hurt, she knew they had to at least _try _to put out some of the fire in order to escape.

In a flash Piplup was back out of its poké ball, still slightly injured, but it was well enough to attempt to put out some of the fire's blazes.

"Lup!" The penguin chirped. Piplup's eyes widened as it saw the fire that surrounded it, backing away slightly and bumping into Dawn's legs.

"Tell it to use bubble beam!" Paul barked at Dawn who hastily nodded, doing as he requested.

"Piplup, bubble beam!" Dawn called out. Piplup hesitated before nodding, its beak beginning to glow blue, bubbles shooting from its beak, beginning todampen the fire some.

Suddenly there was another loud _crack!_ and a _pop! _and suddenly the fire was blazing higher than before. Apparently it came across something big that helped fuel its flames. The fire blazed with life, seemingly taunting them as its flames inched closer to them.

"Eep!" Dawn sweat dropped, her eyes still wide with fear as she ordered the next attack. "Piplup, tr-try whirlpool next!"

The pokémon immediately obey, its body glowing a blue-white and within seconds a huge whirlpool that was ten times bigger than the pokémon was released from Piplup's mouth. The penguin tossed the whirlpool onto the fire, managing to put a dent on the flames.

There was now a small opening now between the fire, separating the flames in two. The path however was very narrow so Dawn and Paul wouldn't be able to go through it. The two fires will probably soon become one again.

"Piplup, whirlpo—" Dawn was about to order another whirlpool but suddenly there was yet another _crack!_ and much to Dawn's horror, her beloved started was suddenly under a tree branch that probably weighed as much as the pokémon itself.

"Piplup!" Dawn screeched, returning the pokémon. Luckily the tree branch wasn't on fire, though it was singed.

"Damn it!" Paul cursed. "Why the _hell_ did I give away that azumarill?!" His eyes suddenly flashed as an idea struck him. "That's it!"

"Did you think of a way to get us out of here?" Dawn asked, squeezing his hands in hope. She looked up at him, hope filling her eyes.

"No." Paul shook his head before snatching the poké ball that contained piplup from her hand.

"Hey!" Dawn shrieked, trying to grab the poké ball back. "What are you doing?!"

Paul released the penguin, but when it was released it was an electric blue color, indicating it had been release just like when he released chimchar. Piplup looked startled as it realized it had been released. Released as in it was _a free pokémon now._

"Piplup pip! PIIIIIP!" It cried, waving it's arms around frantically despite it's injuries, it eyes wide.

"ACCK! What the hell, Paul!? Who the hell said you could release my pokémon! For one, piplup is not your pokémon and two, this is not the time to care to release pokémon that you _think _are weak!" Dawn screamed at him, death-squeezing his hands now while digging her fingernails into his skin as she glared fiercely at him.

Paul rolled his eyes, wincing slightly from the fingernails that dug into his hand. "Stupid…" He muttered before taking out a light pink poké ball with a unique pale yellow design on it that he had bought earlier that week.

He threw the poké ball at the newly released piplup. The pokémon was easily captured, having already been weakened from the branch that fell on it.

"Flipping—! Son of a—! GRRUAAAWWWRRR!" Dawn shrieked in disbelief, now strangling Paul's hand with her own. "How dare you capture my piplup! Who do you think you are—mmpphugghh!"

Paul placed a hand over her mouth, snapping at her, "Would you just shut up and wait a second for me to explain!"

Dawn huffed, but her grip on his poor, poor mangled hand relaxed. Paul removed his hand from her mouth, telling her to just watch.

He threw the pink poké ball, and to Dawn's astonishment Piplup, her was now fully healed without a scratch on him, materialized in front of her.

"B-but… how… Piplup, h-he got hit by a…" Dawn stammered, unable to finish her sentence.

"It's a heal ball." Paul explained. "All I have to do is return the pokémon and it'll be back to perfect health."

"Oh… So that's why you released piplup," Dawn whispered. "You had to release it so you could recapture it and heal it with that heal ball."

Paul nodded. "It's still your pokémon though."

Dawn nodded. She blinked, a roaring from behind her reminding her that the fire was steadily closing in on them. "Piplup, whirlpool and keep using whirlpool!"

Piplup nodded, repeating it's attack from before. The pokémon repeated the attack four times before Dawn called back for it to stop. "That's enough!" Dawn yelled, returning her now exhausted penguin. "Good job, piplup!" Dawn smiled at the new heal ball that contained her starter.

Paul gently tugged on her hand. "C'mon, lets go before the fire surrounds us again!" Paul told her. Dawn nodded, running with Paul through the charred path where part of the fire use to blaze with life before being dampened and finally put out with her piplup. Dawn squeezed Paul's hands, trusting him to find Kokoro and find a way out of the forest, then squeezed the locket that was still in her hand.

"Honchkrow, go!" Paul stopped abruptly to release crow pokémon. Paul turned to the blunette beside him to explain. "It can help us locate where Kokoro currently is."

"Ah." Dawn nodded, squeezing his hands once more.

'_Please… please be okay, Kokoro…'_

* * *

**Xx. ****Snowpoint City**** .xX**

"_The fire is burning out of control, and fire fighters are having a hard time putting the fire out,"_ A reporter maybe in her mid-twenties with blond hair that was placed in a neat blond on top of her head and bottle green eyes announced. _"Fire fighters are fighting the fire from all sides. More fire fighters from other cities will be coming soon to help put out the fire before it reaches Veilstone City which is less than a mile away from the forest. Some houses in Veilstone had already been ordered to evacuate."_

"So Dawn was traveling to Veilstone with your rival, Paul, to help a girl find her parents that live there?" Zoey questioned, making sure her information was correct.

Ash and Brock nodded, eyes glued to the TV as they listened to the blond give her report on the fire. Zoey's eyes were set on the TV too, dread filling her chest at the thought of her rival-slash-friend being in the burning forest.

* * *

"Hiroki… please… put me down." Kokoro whispered weakly. Hiroki was uncertain whether he should do so at first, but then he heard his sister mumble weakly, "I can walk…"

Hiroki sighed but placed his sister on the ground. Kokoro spat at the ground as she did, holding her stomach as she swallowed, and her mouth dry with an acrid taste filling her mouth. "Gross…"

"We have to go!" Hiroki snapped, grabbing his sister's hand. "I think I see the end of the forest!" Hiroki yelled before coughing into his shoulder.

Kokoro gasped in excitement, her eyes widening in joy as she saw a dim light through the thick fog of smoke. She pulled out of her brother's grip, running ahead. She fell to her knees with relief as she dim sunlight poured from the sky and onto her as she reached the end of the forest.

Hiroki smirked at his sister's excitement, running after her.

_Free from the forest at last…_

* * *

"_Krow! Krow! Krow!" _Honchkrow squawked as it made it's way back to Dawn and Paul, finding them not too far from where it had just flew.

This part of the forest was less smoky than the rest of the forest, the trees not yet caught on fire, though it was still hard to breathe. They could however see more clearly than before.

"Did you find her?" Paul asked.

"_Krawww!"_ The pokémon cawed, nodding it's head. It pointed its wing in the direction it had seen the purple-hair eight year old.

"Is she safe?"

Honchkrow nodded once more.

Paul nodded in approval before returning the pokémon to it's poké ball.

"Let's go—"

"Wait, Paul…" Dawn grabbed Paul's wrist.

"Was is it?" He asked impatiently. "We don't have any time to waste, we have to—"

"I-I know." Dawn interrupted, letting go of his wrist and starting to scratch the back of her head sheepishly. "I-It's just I… I wanted to thank you… again."

Paul frowned at her. "What do you mean?" He asked, a bit more snappishly then he meant to.

Dawn flinched slightly, but continued, "For… for saving me." She muttered. "A-and everything else. For saving me, for healing my piplup so it could put out some of the fire… and for dealing with me."

Paul stayed quiet as he listened to her. He blinked at her last five words.

"I know I haven't done anything t-to help…" Dawn continued, heaving a sigh. She managed to look Paul in the eye as she continued, "All I've done is cried and you're probably s-sick if it… I haven't thought of anything or done anything to help. All I've done is whine and scream at you, and I'm sorry…"

Paul turned his head away from her and Dawn flinched, taking the movement the wrong way, taking it as… _rejection_, I a way_._

"I'm sorry… I'm being annoying aren't I?" Dawn sniffed as unwanted tears began to form in her eyes.

_Damn tears! _Dawn cursed. _Why do I have to always be so emotional?! _Dawn wiped the tears away, continuing to sniff miserably.

Paul turned back to her, furrowing his eyebrows together as he watched the girl wipe her tears away. "You really are emotional." Paul stated coldly. "It's stupid."

Dawn's frown deepened as she continued to rub at her red eyes. "Huh?" Paul tilted Dawn's chin up with his hand. Dawn involuntarily gulped and her face reddened in embarrassment, also from how close he was to her.

Paul wasn't sure why but a sudden temptation filled him as he stared into the girl's ocean blue eyes which were currently watery from both her smoke and tears that wasn't good at hiding.

Paul leaned down so their foreheads touched. He could feel warmth radiate off Dawn's blushing cheeks and he smirked slightly. His next movement was a blur, a colorful blur as a warm, fuzzy feeling filled him.

He pressed his lips against Dawn's warm strawberry-flavored lips, forcefully at first but soon only gently pressing his lips to hers. His mind was a colorful fuzz and everything else went blank – the only senses he had left was see and feel. He could feel the girl's soft lips and he felt light-headed and fuzzy, while mentally he saw the smiling blunette in front of him. He remembered seeing her face when she was excited to witness the first gym battle - the gym battle against him and Roark.

Meanwhile, Dawn couldn't believe it… Like Paul, Dawn's mind was at blank, unable to believe what was happening. Yet her whole body was strangely relaxed and a warm sensation filled her body and the fluffy feeling in her chest overwhelmed every other sense.

Dawn found herself grinning into the kiss as she squeezed Paul's hand lightly, kissing him gently back.

_Paul…_

* * *

Hiroki stopped running as he neared the end of the forest, the tree becoming less and less dense. He watched his sister who was literally crying with joy as she escaped the forest as he stopped to catch his breath.

_Crack!_

"Huh?" Hiroki looked up as he heard a loud crack. He didn't see anything though that could have possibly been the cracking sound he heard.

'Maybe I imagined it…' Hiroki thought to himself.

_Crack!… Crack!… Crack!…_

Hiroki knew he hadn't imagined those three _crack!_s, looking up once again to try to figure out what could have possibly caused the three loud _crack!_s.

_CRACK!!_

"HIROKI, WATCH OUT!" It was too late though… Kokoro's scream came too late for Hiroki.

"Fuck…" Hiroki whispered, his blue eyes widening as the breath was taken out of him. A large tree branch that was as big as a log, maybe bigger, fell on top of him. The force of the heavy object falling on him knocked the breath out of his lungs, crushing him under it's weight.

"Hiroki! No, Hiroki! Hiroki!" Kokoro cried as she ran to her brother. Panicking, she began to pull on his limbs, but it did nothing to help him. Next she tried to push the branch off of him, but the branch was _huge!_ After all, these trees were the tallest, thickest trees in Sinnoh!

"Hiroki… please be okay…" Kokoro sobbed, tears falling on the branch and on her brother's face. She tried again to push the branch off of him, but her weakened limbs couldn't push it off. Her panicking didn't help either.

"Kokoro…"

Kokoro's eyes widened. "Hiroki! You're alive!" Determination flashed in the girl's eyes, grinding her teeth together as she tried again to push the tree limb of him.

"Kokoro… don't." Hiroki whispered weakly. Blood trickled down his chin, landing on his jacket that was a blue version of the jacket Kokoro wore. Kokoro's eyes widened even more, tears sliding down her cheeks. "Go… save yourself before the fire reaches here…"

"But—" Kokoro started to protest.

"I came here to save you Kokoro… that way mom wouldn't be sad anymore over your death." Hiroki breathed, revealing the purpose he came to the past to Kokoro. "If you die too Kokoro, what I've done would be for nothing…" He reached down and handed her six pokémon.

"Use them if you need to. Now go." Hiroki ordered sternly before coughing, more blood splattering on his jacket and the shirt he wore underneath it. "Go."

"Hiroki…" Kokoro sobbed. "Thank you. For saving me."

Hiroki gave a weak smirk before he became unconscious once more, slipping into a black dream filled with nothingness… slowly, the pain he felt where the branch was crushing him began to slowly die away…

* * *

Paul finally broke the kiss. He stared dully into her eyes which shone in happiness. He swept her bangs which had fallen onto her forehead during the kiss away, planting a small kiss on her forehead.

Dawn was still catching her breath, grinning from ear to ear, her eyes shining in happiness. Her whole body felt warm, and it wasn't from the fire. She closed her eyes for a brief second, her grin widening.

_There was an angel—a familiar purple-haired angel with eyes as black as night. Feathers fell around her, feathers that were as black as her eyes._

"_Kokoro!" Dawn screamed, panic filling her at the sight of the girl._

"_It was me…" She croaked in a faint, weak whisper. Feathers continued to fall around her. Fire surrounded her - burning, snapping, hissing, speaking it's hideous language. The flames flickered and danced around her, but never touching her. _

"_Wha…" Dawn blinked against the glare of the fire. What did she mean 'It was me…'?_

"_It was me…" She said again. Suddenly something slid down her cheek - that something was a tear, Dawn realized - and fell on her bare feet._

_CRACK!!_

_Dawn shrieked as she heard a crack. She looked around frantically, expecting to see a tree branch falling again - or even worse, one of those huge trees. _

_CRACK!!_

_Dawn screamed again, but she couldn't see anything that was falling. All she saw was fire, smoke and Kokoro with her pairs of angel wings. _

_CRACK!!_

_Dawn's vision began to blur and she coughed as the fire got worse. She continued to cough violently, her eyes watery and burning, tears sliding down her cheek. The smoke overwhelmed her senses and a taste that matched the smoke's stench filled her mouth. She gagged on the taste then continued her violent coughing. She wheezed, grasping at her stomach as she attempted to catch her breath, only to fall into __**another**__ fit of coughing._

"_I was the one who was suppose to die… not him…" Dawn frowned at these words and she looked up. She gasped as she saw a figure that was covered by a shadow sprawled on the floor at Kokoro's feet. Kokoro's silent tears fell on the figure. _

"_It was me who was suppose to die, not him…" she whispered once more, the wings on her back disappearing, dissolving in the wind. _

"_Not him…" Dawn gasped as the body at Kokoro's feet began to fade until it disappeared completely. The sigh sent a shiver down her spine, her vision clouding over._

"_He __**isn't**__ suppose to die…"_

"Dawn? What's wrong?" Paul frowned as Dawn's grin faded to a frown, horror now reflecting her eyes. "Hey! Dawn! What's wrong?"

'This is just like before the fir—'

"Something has changed…" Dawn whispered finally. Her heart which was previously light and fluffy and felt just like cotton candy now felt as if a boulder has been dropped on it, crushing it.

* * *

**Yay! Longest chapter yet... :p Sorry for the sort-of, kind-of late update. At last I updated within a month! xD; Also yay for cliffhanger...? I think it's a cliffhanger, so I'm just gonna call it that... yeah... **

**Thanks for the reviews everybody! Now click the review button again and review! (And tell me if there's any mistakes I missed...) Or anything really...**


	12. Rewind

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Twelve  
Rewind  
**_

---

_It's time for Time to go back and rewind  
I certainly hope you all won't mind  
_  
---

"Hey! Where are you going?" Paul called after the blunette as she abruptly pulled away from him, running deep into the forest with the fire continuing to burn with life, crackling and hissing and popping.

Dawn didn't reply, panting heavily as she dodged anything burning or falling. It was like her body was guiding her to where Kokoro was. She wasn't sure what it was, but she _knew_ something was wrong. Everything was a blur as she ran by, running to the place she knew she was heading to; she just didn't know where exactly she was heading to yet. It was like her instincts were guiding her…

"Hey! Dawn!" Paul called after her, running after the blunette. He grunted slightly in annoyance and slowed down some as something burning almost fell on him. "Stupid girl…" He growled, beginning to chase after the girl once more.

Dawn was only slightly relieved when she saw a crack of sunlight peeking through a few tall trees. Only slightly relieved because she still had no idea where Kokoro was.

She stopped for a few seconds in order to catch her breath. She was about to take off running again when something caught her eye: a tree-branch that looked as if it was on top of something, crushing it.

Dawn rushed over to the tree branch and gasped when she saw that the tree branch in fact _was_ crushing something — or somebody, actually, Dawn concluded as she pushed at the tree branch.

She panted, her tongue hanging out, as she slammed against the tree branch, managing to knock most of the tree branch off the person. She dragged the person the rest of the way out by the scruff of the boy's jacket.

She was ready to collapse on the boy after exhausting work, but managed not to do so… yet. First she had to make the sure the boy was alright.

The boy, Dawn noted, was around her age, a year or two younger maybe. She turned the boy over so she could get a good look at his face.

Dawn gasped. Her heart dropped. Tears stung her eyes as she saw the boy's face.

Just then, Paul ran out of the forest, twigs in his hair and some soot smudged across his cheeks and clothing. He looked out of breath, having been looking for the blunette and ended up making a wrong turn once in a while, having to retrace his footsteps.

"Dawn!" He yelled as he spotted her, and he ran towards her, still panting heavily.

Dawn still had her eyes glued to the face of the boy in front of her though. She blinked, salty tears falling on the boy's already stained clothes, slowly turning her head up to look at Paul. She flinched, as if the sight of him has stung her. She turned her gaze back on the boy that had been crushed by the tree branch.

Midnight blue hair… fair skin… just like her, but… he looked exactly like Paul. Same face features and everything.

'_A single decision can change destiny…'_

Dawn's head snapped up as she stared with wide-eyes. The wind whispered the words to her… or the words had come from nowhere.

"_AHHHHHH!" _

Dawn's eyes widened as the scream echoed throughout the forest and the clearing in front of the forest. The scream wasn't in the forest, but it came from ahead. Kokoro was still alive… but why did she scream?

Suddenly from up ahead came a bright white flash that was blinding, followed by a deafening roar that was like millions of people screaming all at once!

"Dawn!" Paul grabbed Dawn's hand, his eyes wide in fear; something Dawn doesn't remember ever seeing Paul express, as the scream grew louder.

"AHHHH!" Dawn screamed, clinging to Paul as there was another bright flash and another deafening roar to join in with the other roar.

"What is happening?!" Dawn managed to yell over the piercing sound.

"I don't know!" Paul yelled back, wrapping one arm around her waist and hugging her close to him so she wouldn't get separated from him for one second.

Dawn peered out of one eye into the blinding whiteness. She gasped as she realized the flashing light was coming from the body of the boy that looked so much like Paul! The light began to flash, a white blinding light that she could still see even as she closed her eyes.

Dawn screamed and she could feel Paul's protective grip around her. The light seemed to scream at her too. What was going on? Suddenly there was another bright flash, the brightest flash of white yet, and then the world went black and it felt as if she was on a roller coaster… up and down… up and down… there was now a dizzy, nauseous silence. Her eyes fluttered close and she fell asleep.

---

_Darkness. Silence. Emptiness. That was what Dawn's dream was made of. Darkness, silence and emptiness. A lonely emptiness. _

_Suddenly there was a sheer white light that peeked from the lonely darkness, glaring at Dawn and hurting her eyes. A shadowy figure emerged from the white ray of light. No… _two _figures. One of them looked like a pokémon. The other was a human… with wings. The pokémon looked blue and dragon-like with a long neck, a blue jewel shining on its chest. The pokémon - could it be? The legendary Dialga?_

"_Time will be altered  
__One will die for another  
__And the balance of time is disrupted  
__The order of time makes no sense  
__So it's time to go back  
__And give the two one more chance"_

_The shadowy angel-like figure sang as it approached with the legendary dragon pokémon. Dawn's eyebrows scrunched together as she peered into the light before murmuring, "Am I dying?" But how?_

"_Now it's time for time to rewind  
And see who will survive."_

_And once again Dawn was surrounded by darkness and silence, but this time she felt fear. This time she felt wind on her back, as if she was flying. But she wasn't flying. She was falling - into the darkness and the unknown._

"_AHHHHHHH!"_

"_It's up to you to keep me and my brother alive…" A voice murmured one last time before her voice was drowned out by Dawn's screams._

---

"Torterra, stand by for battle!"

Dawn was startled to find herself in a grassy field which was flanked by forests on all side, the pine trees swaying gently in the breeze, and the sky was dark gray and filled with clouds, evidence of a brewing storm.

It felt like déjà vu.

Dawn glanced around, her eyes wide as she witnessed Paul standing there in a battling position with his Torterra out. Ash stood a few meters separate from him, an angry scowled on his features as he got ready to call out his pokémon.

Wait! I though Ash and Brock went to Snowplowing City without me! And weren't Paul and I accompanying Kokoro on her way to Veilstone to make sure she didn't get lost or nothing bad happened to her? Wait – where _is_ Kokoro?

Dawn stared at Paul in a questioning away. He wore an equally confused expression as if he was wondering the same thing.

"Go!—" Ash's voice was drowned out by a deafening roar and Dawn's eyes widened along with Paul's night black ones. They knew what was going to happen next.

Ash and Brock however had no clue what was about to happen and questioned, "What was that?!"

"Kokoro!" Dawn screamed as she raced towards the deafening roar that was followed by the terrified shriek of an eight-year old girl. "We're coming!"

"Mommy! Daddy!" A purple hair girl with onyx black eyes came into view, tears running down her dirty face as she sobbed. "Help!"

Dawn engulfed the terrified young girl in a hug, standing in between her and the outraged Rhydon that the girl had startled and angered somehow. Paul stood in front of the two girls in a protective stance, as if he was protecting them.

"It's okay, Kokoro…" Dawn soothed the girl, rubbing her back in circles to calm the upset girl.

"Go! Ursaring! Hyper beam, now!" Paul threw another red-and-white ball as a big bear pokémon materialized in front of him, bellowing it's name as it was released.

A gold-orange ball began to form in Ursaring's mouth, the ball sizzling as Ursaring prepared to attack the angered Rhydon, the ball soon turning into a beam as it was shot. The attack was a direct hit, hitting the Rhydon in the chest and knocking it backwards. The Rhydon was slammed into a tree where it then became unconscious, little swirls replacing it's eyes as it fell forward.

"Rhydon…" It mumbled.

This time Paul did not capture it. Instead, he turned to Dawn and Kokoro, going down on one knee and asking quietly, "Is she okay?"

Dawn nodded her head. She tore her eyes away for a second to look at Paul. Their eyes connected and Dawn's cheeks heated up slightly, a small blush painting her cheeks. Meanwhile Paul looked sheepishly away, his own face a few degrees warmer.

"Hey, what happened?" Ash questioned as he and Brock approached the three.

Paul stood up, brushing the dust off his pants and jackets as he replied quietly, "She was almost attacked by a Rhydon." He pointed with his thumb at Kokoro.

"Is she okay?!" Ash cried in alarm, now bending down on one knee also to make sure the girl was alright. "Are you okay?" Ash questioned the girl as she stopped crying into Dawn's shoulder and gazed thoughtfully up at Ash.

She nodded shyly. "Uh-huh… My mommy and daddy protected me."

Ash frowned. "Your mommy and daddy protected you? Where are they?"

The girl gave another shy smile as she pointed at Paul and then wrapped her arms around Dawn, snuggling into Dawn. "Them!"

Needless to say, Ash and Brock were very shock.

* * *

"What happened?"

Dawn was in the room Paul was staying at in the pokémon center, pacing around anxiously, her forehead scrunched up together and her eyebrows furrowed.

"What happened? Weren't we in a burning forest? And weren't we looking for Kokoro?" She tugged at her blue locks, frustration and confusion getting to the better of her.

"Would you sit down!" Paul demanded quietly, heaving an exhausted sigh. "I don't know what happened! It was as if… we were sent back in time."

Dawn stopped. A brief memory of a dream she had flashing through her mind. She quickly shook her head though, the memory gone as fast as it came. With a sigh, she flopped down on Paul's bed.

"What are we suppose to do then?" Dawn questioned, staring at the room's ceiling without really seeing it. She sighed again, sitting upright on the bed now with her legs crossed.

Paul shrugged. "Attempt to take her back to Veilstone, I guess."

Dawn sighed. "I guess. Except this time lets not go into the forest that ends up catching on fire…" Dawn grabbed Paul's hand, shocking Paul slightly, but not enough to make Dawn notice his surprise.

Suddenly the two were staring into each other's eyes once more. Blue met black and the night sky met the ocean's waves. A small smile tugged on Dawn's lips as she leaned in, her eyelids fluttering close as their lips connected.

Paul deepened the kiss, letting his hand run through her tangle-free hair, stroking the blue locks. The kiss lasted about fifteen seconds before they both pulled apart, once more gazing into each other's eyes. Dawn sighed contently, leaning on his chest.

"It feels so peaceful right now…" She mumbled into his chest, pulling him closer to her as she shivered slightly from the cold that the night brought.

"Hn." Paul grunted in agreement, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist.

**.x.**

"Dawn? What were you doing in Paul's room?" Dawn flushed as she heard Ash's voice.

"Oh. Um, I just… I just figured Paul deserved a thank you after he saved Kokoro, that's all!" Dawn said sheepishly, a sweat drop trickling down the side of her forehead as she smiled falsely.

"Where's Kokoro then?"

"O-oh. Um… she went to bed. She wanted me to tell Paul thank you though but she was too tired to do it herself," Dawn added quickly.

"Oh! Okay! Well, I suppose Paul saving that girl from the Rhydon was sort of a… knightly thing to do," Ash grumbled reluctantly. "Not something I would have expected from him, but then again, maybe I don't know him as well as I like to think."

"Yeah…" Dawn mumbled, making her way back to her room.

After getting dressed into her pajamas, Dawn climbed into bed, but not before opening the curtains so she could gaze out at the night sky. As Dawn tucked herself in bed and under the cover, she gazed longingly outside at the blackness.

Dawn smiled. The night sky reminded her of Paul's eyes and the stars reminded her of the glint she would see in his eyes ever so often…

---

Dawn woke up that morning sweating more than usual, beads of sweat dripping off her sweaty forehead and onto the bed that already smelled like a gym locker from her sweat. Dawn scrunched her nose up at the smell, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

She sighed as she recalled her dream. It was her usual kind of dream – ha dream about Kokoro, but this time it was different: this time she _was_ Kokoro!

She dreamed about being Kokoro, being surrounded by a wall of fire that threatened to engulf her and swallow her. The flames had flickered and dance, whispering and singing in that creepy crackling voice of theirs. Dance, flicker, _crack! _Dance, flicker, _crack_! Dance, flicker, _crack! _Crack, crack, crack! The crack echoed in Dawn's, or Kokoro's mind. Again and again. Crack, crack, _crack!_ A sickening crack that reminded Dawn of bones crunching for some odd reason.

Then Kokoro was running. Running and dodging. Running through the smoke-filled woods, her heart thudding painfully inside of her as she struggled to keep on running in order to escape the whispers of the fire. She dodged burning debri, burning branches and burning trees that moaned in agony. Kokoro's emotions were like a hurricane; a tornado of panic, a tsunami of fear, a flashflood of confusion. Emotions that weighed her down.

Dawn shook her head to shake the dream off. She pulled on her clothes for the day and made sure to put on plenty of deodorant so she wouldn't reek of sweat when she came out.

She sat next to Paul who currently sat alone finishing off a piece of toast; ignoring the confused glances she received from Ash and Brock as she passed their table. Let Ash and Brock be suspicious, it didn't make a difference to her.

And indeed, Ash and Brock were suspicious, especially the wiser of the two, Brock. He wasn't sure what, but he just had a gut-feeling something had happened between the two… something that changed the way they spoke and acted around each other… Why else would Dawn be speaking to him like she was talking to a friend of hers when she never talked to him like that before? Why else would Paul look as if he actually _enjoyed_ her presence when he never even bother to talk to her or even acknowledge her before?

"Mr. Ketchum! Mr. Ketchum! Hey, where's Missus Ketchum? Isn't she usually with you? And where's Shelly?"

Ash blinked in confusion at the purple hair girl who had just woken up. "Shelly? Who's she? And Missus Ketchum? Are you talking about my mom, because she's back in Pallet Town…?"

Kokoro snorted. "Silly goose…" She muttered. "_Noooo_, I mean your wife! And Shelly, your daughter!"

Ash's frown deepened. "Wife?! My _daughter?!_ What are you _talking_ about? I'm only a kid! A KID!"

"I'll let you have your breakfast now, Mister Ketchum. Maybe then you'll remember," Kokoro rolled her eyes playfully. "Coocoo brain… Hey, Dawn! Paul! There you are!"

Kokoro raced over to the table the two were staying at, flopping herself between the two as she grinned eagerly at them. She already knew the two's names because she claimed to have remembered and recognized them from somewhere after realizing they weren't her parents.

Brock watched the three from the corner of his eyes, watching them observantly. Kokoro had her hair exactly like Dawn does, but her hair color is the exact same shade of Paul's hair. And then there was the girl's eyes, which were also the exact same hue of black as Paul's. The girl looked like both Dawn and Paul, a combination of the two. Like…

_Could it be…? _Brock shook his head. _No, it can't be… unless… but how? Hmm, maybe, just maybe… _Brock glanced at the three once more. He sighed. _Only time will tell…_

Ash frowned at the three, mumbling something under his breath before he walked over to their table, asking Kokoro, "So where do live, Kokoro?"

Kokoro smiled at the raven hair man, replying cheerfully, "Veilstone City!"

"Ah…" Ash nodded his head thoughtfully. "You live in Veilstone City too, don't you Paul?"

Paul nodded. "I could escort her there since I'm heading in that direction."

Ash huffed to himself, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he said, "No offense, but I don't really trust you to escort her to Veilstone… you would probably find her too 'troublesome' if she can't keep up with you. Maybe someone should go with you just in case…"

"I could go with him!" Dawn volunteered cheerfully.

"Perfect! We can all go and escort Kokoro to Veilstone! It can be a five man squad! Me, Ash, Dawn, Paul and of course, Kokoro!" Brock clapped his hands together happily as if to close the case.

Dawn's eyebrows furrowed together. What…? This didn't happen last time! Ash and Brock went to Snowpoint City on their own!

Dawn turned her gaze onto Paul, frowning unhappily while he just stared the other way, an unreadable expression on his face.

What else is going to change?

---

It was night once more with the stars twinkling brightly in the ink black sky like usual. The pearl white moon was full and shining brightly down on Dawn as she made her way to Paul's tent. Dawn crawled on her knees and hands as she made her way to Paul's tent, careful not to make any noise that would alert Ash or Brock, or even Kokoro.

"What are we going to do now that Ash and Brock are joining us?" Dawn questioned as soon as she entered through the flap, picking out burrs and twigs that had gotten stuck in her midnight blue hair.

Paul just shrugged. "Doesn't matter. We just have to make sure nothing happens to Kokoro, that she doesn't die or anything; we mainly just have to avoid that fire in 'Angel Forest'."

Dawn nodded in agreement, a thoughtful expression her face. "Don't you think it's kind of weird, or odd anyway, that Kokoro 'recognized' us from somewhere? Do you think she remembers about the forest fire or anything?"

"Maybe… she may just think the fire was a dream and thinks she has nothing to worry about. And she may not have anything to worry about just as long as we aren't in that forest when it catches on fire."

Paul sighed before telling the girl in a surprisingly gentle tone, "You should probably go before somebody wakes up and begins to wonder what you're doing in here…"

"Right…" Dawn murmured. She was about to crawl out for the tent but stopped abruptly. She turned around again and planted a quick kiss on Paul's lips.

"See you in the morning!" She whispered with a faint blush on her cheeks, wearing a shy smile.

Paul nodded, a faint smirk on his features. "Yeah, see you in the morning…"

* * *

**I'll stop here now. So Dawn, Paul and Kokoro went back in time and now Brock is starting to get suspicious about the two now that Dawn is hanging around with Paul (xD) and now Ash and Brock are also traveling with the three. And sorry for the late update, I had Writer's Block for some time… **

**Also for anybody who was wondering why Dawn, Paul and Kokoro went back in time it was because Hiroki died. Hiroki only went back in time so he could save Kokoro which he succeeded in doing, but since Kokoro never died and he died in her place, there would be no reason for him to go back in time and save the eight-year old Kokoro. So yeah, hopefully you get why they went back in time now if you didn't already. Review please, and I'll try to update sooner next time, 'kay? xD (Also vote on my new poll! Please? xD;)**


	13. Reflect

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Thirteen  
Reflected  
**_

---

_When you look in the mirror and you see what is reflected  
Do you notice how the picture couldn't be perfected?  
_  
---

"_Daddy! Can we go in the woods and play? Please?" A man with lilac color hair looked down to see his little five-year old daughter tugging on his jacket, staring up at him with black eyes the same hue of his. "I want to go look at and play with all the pokémon!"_

"_You'll probably scare all the pokémon away with your voice before you even get to see one," The father teased his daughter, picking her up and swinging her by the arms in a full circle._

"_WHEEEEEEE!" The girl giggled, her face bright red as she grinned happily at her father. "Can mommy come too?"_

"_I don't think your mom would let you go in the woods whether we were both with you or not; you know how protective she is of you," The dad rolled his eyes. "Mommy's busy with dinner right now anyway, Kokoro."_

_Kokoro frowned, her eyebrows furrowing together. "Mommy doesn't have to know then!" She replied. "Pleaaaase? I wanna visit the pretty pokémon!" Kokoro whined._

"_No, now lets go inside." He grabbed the little girl's hand, rolling his eyes as the girl huffed angrily under her breath as he led her inside._

_The blue-hair mother frowned as she saw the angry pout on Kokoro's face. "What's with Kokoro?" She questioned her husband._

"_She's angry with me because I'm not letting her visit the 'pretty pokémon' in the woods," He replied indifferently with a shrug, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead._

"_I'm not going to run off like last time!" Kokoro protested from where she was seated. "I promise!"_

"_Well, I'm not going to take that risk this time," Her father retorted. "Not after your mom had a screaming fit at me after she found out I lost you in the woods when it was nearly nighttime." The father grimaced as he recalled the memory._

"_But that was a year ago! I didn't know better!" Kokoro crossed her arms, puffing out her cheeks as she grumbled, "I'm bigger now!"_

_The blue-hair mother tuned out her daughter's rambling, knowing that Kokoro would forget about wanting to go out in the woods by the morning. And if not, everything will be fine after buying her spoiled daughter another pokédoll for her collection. _

"_I just hope our next child isn't as adventurous as Kokoro," The father whispered huskily into the blunette's ear, wrapping an arm around her waist, placing both hands on his wife's growing stomach._

_She giggled, her cheeks going warm and bright pink. "But what would be the fun of that?" She turned around, staring dreamily into his eyes._

"_Hey! Are you guys even listening to me?" Kokoro's voice snapped both their attentions back to their little five-year old daughter._

"_No," The father stated bluntly, earning a frown from the five-year old. Paul sighed. "Tell you what, how about I buy you that Munchlax plushie you wanted and you forget about wanting to see all those pretty pokémon in the woods?"_

"_Deal!" Kokoro chirped, hugging her father who ruffled her hair, wearing a slight smirk. "Can we go see the pokémon tomorrow then? We could go on a picnic!"_

"_Kokoro, what did I just—__"_

"_A picnic actually sounds like a good idea. Just as long as you don't go wandering off again and you stay in our eyesight at all time," Her loving mother agreed as she stirred the noodles she was making that was part of the family of three's dinner._

"_Yay!"_

_The father sighed. "You let her get her way too much."_

"_And you always bribe her with those pokédolls she wants so she'll listen to you, so we're even."_

_The father smirked. The mother smiled. Kokoro grinned happily. Yep, just a normal family dinner… Kokoro and her mom and dad with a little brother on the way. Just like how things were supposed to be._

---

A frown was painted across Kokoro's face as she opened her eyes. Where was her bed? And why were the walls a white-ish gray, not a very light salmon pink? And where was her pokédolls collection? But the main question was, _where were her parents?_

"_Ooh! So there's a gym in Veilstone too?"_ A familiar voice yelled from outside.

Oh. That's right. She was separated from her parents at the moment. Kokoro felt a strange sense of sadness and loneliness at this thought.

Kokoro sighed, shaking her head as she rid the sadness and loneliness that had invaded her mind. "No need to worry!" The girl reassured herself. "I'll be back with mommy and daddy in no time!"

---

"_Ooh! I get to watch daddy battle another trainer? Finally!" Kokoro chirped happily, bouncing up and down in her seat while her mother attempted to brush her daughter's lilac hair. _

"_Yeah, but your daddy will have finished the battle by the time we get there if you don't let me brush your hair properly!" The mother exclaimed in exasperation._

_About three minutes later the mother was holding her daughter's hand as she led her to her father's gym which was a five-minute walk away. The bouncy five-year old had her lilac hair in a ponytail at the moment and wore a bubblegum pink jumper over a white t-shirt with a piplup-pocket on the front of the dress around the chest area. All in all, the girl looked adorable!_

"_Torterra, use Giga Drain followed by Crunch!" A harsh voice ordered as soon as the two entered the gym, silently closing the door behind them as they took a seat on the bleachers._

"_Ooh! This is so exciting!" Kokoro exclaimed excitedly, watching with wide eyes as the mountains on her daddy's torterra back began to glow green and began to transform into green vines. The vines wrapped themselves around the opponent's Breloom. Energy flowed through the vines as it was sucked from the opponent's pokémon and into her dad's torterra._

"_Loooom!"_

"_Torterrra!" The continent pokémon bit hard on the breloom's tail next, swinging the pokémon by the tail after it retreated it's vines, throwing the pokémon to the other side of the gym._

_The pokémon was knocked unconscious as it hit the back wall. "Bre… loom…"_

"_Yay!" Kokoro cheered along with her mother. "You're the bomb, daddy!"_

_Her purple-hair dad, along with the other trainer that had challenged and gotten beaten by her dad both turned her way at her loud cheer. The dad smirked while the brunette male sighed and returned his pokémon._

"_You did fantastic Breloom. Maybe next time," The trainer murmured as he clipped his poké ball back on his belt. _

"_Your pokémon's reaction was way too slow," The brunette's head snapped up at the sound of the gym leader's voice. "You would have done a lot better in battle if your breloom was quicker next time, that way it could actually dodge my attacks."_

"_Oh, of course!" The trainer bowed his head. "Thanks for the battle, Paul. I promise I'll work hard so I can earn the Strength badge next time!"_

_Paul nodded. "You do that."_

_With that said and done, the trainer left the gym so he could go train his pokémon so they would become stronger. _

"_That was amazing!" Dawn told her husband, giving him a kiss on the lips, her hand running through his shoulder-length plum color hair. Paul smirked, deepening the kiss as he ran his own hand through her midnight blue hair._

"_Ah-hem!" Kokoro cleared her throat, grimacing and making a face as she watched her parents kiss. "I'm still alive ya know!"_

_The couple broke their kiss to stare at their little five-year old daughter. The girl smiled cheerfully._

"_You did great, daddy! You were so strong! Can I watch you battle again sometime? Please?" _

_Paul shrugged. "If it's okay with your mom."_

"_I don't mind at all!" Dawn chirped. "I could watch your battles with her too! I love watching you battle!"_

_Paul smirked. "You sound like Kokoro, Dawn." The blunette smiled, leaning in for another kiss._

---

"Hm, my mom and dad's names are Dawn and Paul," Kokoro noted thoughtfully, as the 'five man squad' as Brock the slanted-eyed breeder likes to call their small group, continued on their way to Veilstone.

Brock raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Positive!" She chirped. "They call each other that name all the time! Well, not all the time… they sometime call each other by 'mommy' and 'daddy', but that's usually whenever they are talking to me…"

"How old are you?"

"Eight!" The girl grinned happily as she held up one whole hand and three fingers. "I just turned eight a few days ago! My mom and dad gave me this pretty locket too for my birthday!" She held up a heart-shaped gold locket which she wore around her neck. "Isn't it pretty?"

Brock nodded, hesitating some before asking, "Is there a picture inside the locket?"

Kokoro nodded eagerly. "Yeah! I can't get it open yet though…" She pouted as she said this. "Do you think you can get it open?"

Brock shrugged. "I can try." Kokoro grinned as she handed the locket to Brock, waiting eagerly as she watched him tug on the locket, trying to get the small case open to reveal the picture inside of it. After several minutes of pulling, tugging and huffing, the breeder finally gave up with an exaggerated sigh-slash-huff of breath.

"Sorry Kokoro, I couldn't get it open…" Brock told the young girl sheepishly as he handed the locket back her.

"Aw that's alright," Kokoro told him with a kind smile. "At least you tried!"

"Can we pick up the pace?" Paul called grouchily from ahead of them. "I would like to get to Veilstone soon!"

"Chill-_lax,_ Paul!" Ash called back. "We'll be there by Friday which is less than three days away!"

"Well, I would to get there by _Thursday _which is _less_ than three days away!" Paul snapped back.

Dawn laid a hand on Paul's shoulder, and said in reassuring whisper, "No need to worry! I'm sure we'll be there before the fire starts!" Paul stayed silent, his eyes straight-forward as he concentrated on walking fast. Dawn rolled her eyes with a wry smile, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Dawn! Paul! Wait up for me!" Kokoro called after them. Paul slowed down some so the girl could catch up. "So… when do you think we are going to be in the next town?"

Paul shrugged. "Before nightfall at least. The we can rest and spend the night in the town's pokémon center then head off for the next town in the morning."

"Okay!" she chirped. "So you two look close… are you two married like my mom and dad?"

"Pfftt-t-t-ch… y-yeah, s-sure! Married! Pffft-nooo…." Dawn spat nervously, snorting and then waving her hand in front of her to dismiss the idea. "What gave you that impression?" She asked curiously, her face warm and pink.

"Well, I noticed you two were walking together a lot while you left me, Ash and Brock in the dust!" She exclaimed. "Plus last night I heard you two talking together in Paul's tent about something and then I was going to go ask for something and I saw you two kiss like my mommy and daddy do!"

Paul's cheeks reddened even more along with Dawn's. Dawn glanced back anxiously behind her, but was relieved to find that Ash and Brock were too busy talking to each other to have heard Kokoro.

"Um…" Dawn mumbled, biting her lower lip while she twisted a strand of blue hair around her finger. "U-uh…"

"That will our little secret, okay Kokoro?" Paul glanced down at the eight-year old, sticking out a pinky. "Promise me you won't tell anybody about that… 'secret kiss' me and Dawn shared, got it?" Dawn looked absolutely dumbfounded as she heard Paul speak those words. She could notice a splash of pink on his cheeks. Dawn giggled. When does Paul make people - especially eight year old girls - promise him stuff? It was pretty cute…

"Okay! I won't tell anybody!" Kokoro replied with a giggle, wrapping her smaller pinky around his.

Soon enough as the five man squad entered the small town of Celestic City; night began to fall, and twilight had just fallen on the small town when they had entered the pokémon center.

"We would like two rooms," Ash told the pink-hair pokémon nurse, Nurse Joy while Croagunk dragged the twitching Brock away after another fail attempted at flirting with the nurse.

"Hey… Ash?" The raven hair man turned his gaze on the purple hair girl as she tugged on his jacket. "Is it okay if I sleep with Dawn and Paul? They… they remind me of my parent so… um…" She stared shyly at her feet.

"But that means Dawn and Paul will have to share the same bedroom with you Kokoro…" Brock muttered thoughtfully. "If it's okay with them, I guess you can…"

"Sure! Anything for you sweetie!" Dawn told the innocent little girl, taking her hand as she smiled sweetly down at her. "How about you Paul?"

Paul heaved a long sigh, as if he was annoyed by the question. "Fine. I don't see why not."

"Great!" Dawn chirped, snatching a room key from Ash's hand and then searching for the room the three would be staying in. She unlocked the door and then flopped happily on the bed. "Uggh! I am _exhausted_! I'm going to bed right now. Good night you two!"

"Yeah, whatever…" Paul mumbled, glancing out the window where rain was beginning to fall outside in a steady rhythm. Thunder boomed outside from close by.

A shiver went down both Dawn and Paul's spine as they remembered the lightning that caught the forest on fire. Meanwhile Kokoro stared out the window, a hypnotic expression on her features, mesmerized by the rain that fell outside and the sheets of lightning that lit up the sky.

Sleep enveloped Dawn's body immediately as her eyes fluttered close, the rain a lullaby that helped guide her spirit to sleep, soothing her soul and relaxing her body…

---

"_Mommy! Mommy! Daddy! Daddy!" Dawn yelled, her short legs running while her hair tossed all over the place, hitting her in the face and getting in her mouth. Odd… her hair looked purple in the night's light. _

"_What is it, Kokoro?" Wait… I'm Kokoro? She glanced up where Kokoro's mother was standing, trying to see her face in case she may recognize Kokoro's mother. Her mother's face was hidden by a shadow though. Kokoro's dad, who's face was also hidden by a shadow, had an arm wrapped around the mother and their bodies were pressed close together. They were in bed together since it was nighttime. _

_Unwillingly Dawn - or Kokoro - blushed, looking down on her feet._

"_I… I had a bad dream…" She whimpered, lavender locks falling shamefully in front of her._

"_Aw it's okay, Sweetie! How about you sleep with daddy and me tonight if it'll make you feel better?" A grin crossed Dawn's face as she ran across the rest of the room and jumped on top of the bed and into her parent's loving arms. _

_Her mother stroked her purple locks, her own hair which had a blue-ish tint in the soft moonlight that spilled from nearby window, peeking through the silky white curtains. _

"_What was the dream about?" She asked softly. She felt her dad shift in the bed, now sitting up straight as he took her hands and squeezed it comfortingly._

"_I-I dreamed that I was separated from you two…" Dawn whispered softly, a tear rolling down her cheek. "It was horrible… and there was this fire too… and you two weren't there. I was so scared… I didn't know what to do…" She sniffled, wiping away the tears with the back of her hand._

_She felt both her parents stiffen slightly. They relaxed soon after though, shaking their heads. "Well, it was just a dream, Honey… Try to get some sleep, okay?"_

"_Yeah," Her dad grunted, kissing her forehead. "You'll forget it by morning anyways probably."_

"_I don't think I will…" She whispered quietly. "It was so horrible… it was like it wasn't a dream… it was like it was real…" _

"_It was just a dream," Her mom whispered again. "Now go to sleep."_

"_Yes mommy…" Dawn whispered, snuggling into mommy's side, comforted by her mom and dad's loving embrace. "Good night mommy… daddy… I love you."_

"_We love you too, Kokoro…" _

_A shadow fell upon Dawn and Kokoro's parents and then it was bright out, as bright as day, and when her eyes fluttered open she was all alone, half her body covered by a shadow, and the other half had the scorching sun on her, bathing that half of her body in sunlight. _

"_Mommy? Daddy?"_

"_Yes?" Dawn heard the soft voice of Kokoro's mother and she closed her eyes for a few more seconds and when she opened them again she saw them. Kokoro's parents or… _

_Her and Paul._

_---_

Dawn jerked awake, her heart thumping loudly inside of her and red in the face with sweat rolling down the side of her face. Her and Paul? A-as Kokoro's parents? No… that can't be right… they're too young! How could it possibly be… be… _true?_

But she had seen them. A father with lavender locks that had reached his shoulder, scorching ink black eyes, and though more muscular, like Paul the father was tanned and had the same face features and everything. Just… more mature looking. And more ripped, definitely. Meanwhile the mother was a petite mother that was about a head shorter than the father, or Paul, with an hourglass figure. She was also pale with blue locks that fell over her shoulders and down to her mid-back. She looked small, delicate, _breakable_ next to her bigger, more-built husband, or Kokoro's father and yet… the two looked like the perfect couple, the perfect parents, a perfect contrast for each other. And even though the two were older, Dawn just knew the parents were her and Paul in an older form. She just knew it.

Dawn shook her head, mumbling words under her breath. "It was just a dream… it doesn't mean anything! It's not like I can have dreams that can see into the future or anything…" Dawn whispered.

She sighed before looking around the room. Paul and Kokoro were still sleeping soundly in their respective beds. Dawn smiled as she watched the two sleep. They looked so much alike with their lavender hair falling messily in front of their face. They both looked so peaceful too, giving the room a tranquil atmosphere as their soft snores filled the room.

Her gaze lingered on Paul's face as she watched him sleep, dim moonlight washing over him from the window. It was still sprinkling outside. She thought about the past few days, the days that had been erased from time only for them to have to re-do the next few days. She thought about their first kiss.

Unconsciously, her finger went to her lips, a blush warming her cheeks as a small smile tugged on her lips. She never dreamed - or thought possible - the day Paul would kiss her or the day the two would kiss at all. But they had kissed. And they kissed a few other times after the first one.

Dawn frowned as a new thought passed her mind. Wait - if the last few days, with the fire and everything, haven't happened yet - for everybody else anyway - does that mean we hadn't really kissed on that day and that wasn't my real first kiss? Dawn frowned.

Damn that time and space mcjigger thingy… Dawn thought grouchily, her eyebrows furrowing together. Now I don't even know what, how or where my first kiss was! Thanks a lot Dialga and Palkia…!

Dawn sighed softly, hugging her blankets closer to her, shivering as a breeze from the window that was opened about half an inch passed through the room. She turned her gaze back on Paul, smiling at the serene face of Paul. He looked like an angel…

She thought about their kiss again. I wonder if we'll ever get married, she thought suddenly. And have kids… O-or if this is just… just until we get Kokoro back to her parents? Then what? Paul won't have an excuse to travel with me, Ash and Brock. Then what…?

Dawn threw the blankets off of her, crawling out of the bed and crawling on all four over to Paul's bed. Her smile widened slightly as she watched Paul sleep from up close. Without really thinking, she brushed his bangs away from his forehead, causing him to turn more towards her as he slept. Dawn blushed but continued to watch him.

If we ever do get married and have a kid, I wonder what it will look like… If it was a boy maybe it would my hair color and skin tone… and Paul's eyes… but his masculine features. And if it was a girl… it should have Paul's hair color and my eye color… or maybe she should have both Paul's hair and eye color… A picture began to form in Dawn's mind.

Dawn blinked, startled as she realized that the girl she was imagining was Kokoro! Lavender hair, black eyes, pale skin… looks just like her, but with Paul's eye and hair color.

Dawn shook her head. "No… you're just letting that dream get to you," She told herself sternly. Another breeze passed through the room. "Good night, Paul…" She told him softly with a sigh, kissing Paul quickly on the forehead before crawling back to her bed. "…and sweet dreams."

---

_Dawn's next dream was even more bizarre, and made her toss and turn in her bed, sweat rolling down the side of her face. It was like she was having two dreams at the same time!_

"_Why are you crying mommy?" A strangely familiar five year with midnight blue hair and pale skin questioned, tugging on the hem on his mother's skirt. The mother had tears rolling down her pale skirt as she stared at an old family photograph._

"_I got all eight Sinnoh badges now!" This was Dawn's second dream that collided with the first one, the images of the scene tuning in and out, in and out. A mother with long blue hair turned around to face her daughter. Dawn recognized the daughter as Kokoro… only older by a few years._

"_I wish I was trainer already!" The same blue-hair boy from the same dream shouted, staring enviously at the eight polished badges in his sister's case. "Why can't I be ten already?"_

_Then the first dream again. "N-nothing is wrong, H-Hiroki!" The mother exclaimed with a weak laugh. "I-I'm fine! C'mon… you wanna make some poffins with me?"_

_The five-year old shrug. "Well, okay… can I go out and watch daddy train after I'm done helping you with the poffins?"_

"_S-sure."_

_The second dream again. "Well, you're going to have to wait until you're ten like I did until you start traveling on your own Hiroki. And when you do begin your journey and become a strong trainer like me we can battle each other!" _

_Hiroki's eyes lit up at this news. _

_Suddenly the two dreams emerged into one and Dawn could no longer tell what was happening. It was all a messy image with two separate times and places colliding. Black and white feathers danced all over the place. The wind whispered Dawn's name and Dawn felt a chill go down her spine._

"_Dawn. Dawn. Dawn. Dawn. Dawn." The wind chanted, dancing around her, tugging on her blue locks. "Dawn. Dawn. Dawn. Dawn. Dawn." The black and white feathers began to circle her, twirling and spinning around her in a black and white blur._

"_What do you want?" She whispered weakly, her vision growing dim and blurry as she fought to keep her eyes open. Her body felt strangely light. _

"_Save him. Save him. Save him. Don't leave him." The wind whispered back. _

"_Save who? Paul?" She questioned, her eyes closing. She felt light. She could no longer feel the ground below her, and it felt as if she was floating in nothing but air. Dawn smiled, enjoying the feeling._

"_Save…Hiroki." Who's Hiroki? Hadn't she just heard that name recently? And what a nice name…_

_Dawn was startled as felt herself falling and she opened her mouth to scream but there was no sound. She tried to scream again, but to no avail, she couldn't scream no matter how hard she tried. It was as if…she lost her voice. _

_An image flashed in front of her. A familiar blue hair boy with familiar cold onyx eyes, pale skin and looked just like a certain lavender hair boy… a blue-haired version of Paul. Dawn's eyes were transfixed on him. She had seen him before. She was certain she had. _

"_Save him. Save him. Save him." The wind started to whisper again. A burning forest flashed in front of her mind and she felt she understood what she had to do. What the wind was trying to say. They had to go to Angel Forest again and save whoever this mysterious boy was. He must have been in the fire when the forest caught on fire and died from smoke inhalation or something._

_Sadness welled up in Dawn at this thought. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, still feeling as if she was flying. Then she felt as if she was falling. And she woked up._

---

Dawn's eyes snapped open and this time it was morning.

* * *

**Okay, so let me know how it was. But yeah, this chapter was probably more of a… development one, maybe? I could've written more for this chapter, but bleh. XD I have other chapters for other stories I have to work on, so yeah, lol. I've been working on this one all week. And whooo, an update in less than a week! 8D Also I apologize for most of the stories being italics, but I decided I could use Dawn's dreams to develop more on Kokoro's parents, or Dawn and Paul. (Also you may have noticed most of the time I was trying to avoid using their name, but I slipped up a few times, so I'm just going to leave them there… not too big of a deal, right? [Duh]). Okay… I don't wanna make this too long, so yeah… **

**Review now please?**


	14. Déjà Vu

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Thirteen  
**__**Déjà Vu **_

---

_Do you get a_ _sense of déjà vu  
Everytime you say 'I love you'?_

---

It was still raining like crazy when the five man squad set out in quest for Veilstone city. The gang used umbrellas to shield themselves from the continuous pouring of rain.

"Is it really necessary to go out in this rain?" Ash questioned dumbly. "We could have waited in the pokémon center until the rain stops."

"True, but the sooner we get to Veilstone, the sooner Kokoro gets to see her parents." Dawn told the raven-haired man for the trillionth time. "Just roll with it, okay?"

Ash muffled a sigh. "Alright… I'm just being selfish, I guess…"

"Can we get a move on already?" Paul called impatiently. Ash rolled his eyes but picked up his pace, now walking just a few feet behind Paul.

Dawn giggled, holding Kokoro's hand as she jogged up to Paul. "How much longer do you think it will be until we reach Veilstone?"

Paul shrugged. "Maybe two more days…" He replied. He then replied in a lower tone so only Dawn would hear, "Hopefully we'll get there before the fire starts…"

"Do you remember what day the fire started on?" Paul shook his head.

"I just remember we were near Veilstone City when it started… I don't remember what date it was though," Paul told her.

Dawn sighed. "I don't remember either…" She said quietly. She then mused in a faraway voice, "I just know we have to get there _before_ the fire starts…"

"Just as long as we don't get stuck in the middle of the fire again," Paul replied gruffly. Dawn nodded in agreement, her eyes glazed over.

* * *

"Thanks for the battle," Hiroki politely told a pink-hair gym leader around his age who he had just defeated in a battle. He accepted the Cobble Badge, proof of his win from the _current_ Veilstone Gym.

The gym leader smiled kindly in return. "No prob! I like battling strong trainers; it helps me get better in battles and stuff," She told him. "You deserve this badge. I wish you luck with the rest of your gym battles!"

Hiroki nodded, turning away with his hands shoved deeply into his pockets. When he was a good distance away he took out his badge case, placing the cobble badge in the case to accompany his Coal Badge, Forest Badge and Fen Badge.

"Hm… next I'll go and challenge the Hearthome City gym," Hiroki mumbled out loud to himself. "But to get there I have to go through a few forests…" He observed, sticking the map back in his backpack.

Including Angel Forest which I have to stick close to just in the…

He glanced into the sky which was a dove gray, storm clouds that were a stone gray hovering a few miles away in a different town. A sharp wind tugged at his bangs, whipping him in the face.

I'll wait until morning, Hiroki decided. I have to rest my pokémon anyway…

---

Maylene gazed after the blue-hair boy until she could no longer see him in the distance. "He looks so familiar…" she murmured. "He looks like somebody I met a few weeks ago…" She continued to stare at the spot Hiroki had disappeared.

Maylene shook her head, finally turning away. "There are dozen of people who look alike…" she told herself. "No big deal… not a big deal at all."

* * *

Rain still poured outside in sheets, lightning crackling outside in a jagged golden flash followed by the Earth's grumbling only moments later. Kokoro smiled happily at the rain, humming a soft tune to herself. Kokoro grinned as she saw Dawn and Paul enter the room.

"Finally! There you guys are!" She jumped off the bed, a big grin painted across her face. "You guys wanna play a game!"

"Mm… Maybe later," Dawn told the young girl. "I'm not really in the mood for card games or whatever…"

"It's not a card game though!" Kokoro protested. "I don't have any cards with me. Can we puh-leaaaase play truth or dare together though? I really wanna play it!"

Dawn shook her head. "Maybe after I get ready for bed, okay?"

"Okay!" Kokoro chirped. "When are you going to be done?"

"In an hour or so," Dawn responded. "I take a long time taking showers."

Kokoro giggled. "So do I! But I still take baths, not showers…"

"Mm. Well, I'll see you guys in a few!" Dawn sang cheerily, giving Paul a quick kiss on the forehead before she entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Paul gazed after her for a while before turning his attention back to Kokoro who was beginning to draw a picture.

"What are you drawing?" Paul questioned, walking over to the girl's side.

Kokoro shrugged. "Not much. Just my family," She replied. After she finished coloring in her dad's hair, she glanced up, staring intently at Paul.

Paul frowned. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure…" Kokoro muttered. "It's just…you look so much like my dad." She mumbled. She gazed at him for another few seconds before shaking her head. "Hey! What kind of pokémon do you have?" She questioned eagerly, her eyes bright again with excitement.

"Didn't I already—" Wait, that's right. She doesn't remember. Paul sighed irritably. "All kinds – I have a Torterra, Ursaring, Electabuzz, Magmar…"

"Really? Cool! My dad has a Torterra and an Ursaring too! And he also has an Electivire and Magmortar!" Kokoro exclaimed. "I got to see him fight with them too sometimes!"

"Interesting…" Paul muttered.

"When I grow up, I wanna be a strong trainer like my daddy too! But I also wanna be a skilled coordinator like my mom!" Kokoro chirped happily. "I wanna have pokémon like—"

"Hey! Knock knock!" Ash yelled as he knocked hard on the oak door of the pokémon center. He barged right in, a goofy grin on his face. "Hey - where's Dawn?"

"Shower." Paul pointed to the bathroom with his thumb, his expression cold with a hint of annoyance at the sight of his rival.

"Really? Well, it's good to know you're not spying on her or anything," Ash said with a chuckle. "Or else you would be a pervert like Brock! Uh… not that Brock spies on girls while they are in the shower…" Ash's expression darkened some. "Well, I hope he doesn't…"

Paul raised an eyebrow and Ash laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his sheepishly. "Just forget I said any of that!" Ash told him. "Brock just gets love struck easily, but he's not one of those perverted men who spy on women while they are in the showers."

"Hi Mr. Ketchum! Do you like the drawing I drew of my mom and dad?" Kokoro chimed in cheerily as she held up the picture she drew.

"That's mommy with the baby in her tummy, and there's me! And Hiroki who's my little brother! Oh! And my daddy is right there!"

"Hmm… That's a nice picture you drew," Ash commented. "Your parents though… your mom looks like Dawn… and the dad… are you sure you didn't draw Dawn and Paul by mistake?"

Kokoro frowned. "No. My mommy and daddy look like this! My mom has pretty blue hair and pretty blue eyes while I have my dad's hair and eye color!"

"Well, they certainly look an awfully lot like—"

"Hey! Where do babies come from?" Kokoro queried suddenly, sitting with her elbows propped up on the bed, resting her chin in her hands. "My mom and dad never told me!"

Ash blushed furiously. "W-wha-? Y-you want me to give t-the… _baby talk?!?!_" Ash sighed. "Might as well, I guess. Well, um you see… when two people love each other very much… t-they… uh…"

"Who's the two people who love each very much, Mr. Ketchum?" Kokoro asked eagerly.

"O-oh! Um…" Ash had to think quickly. "Dawn and Paul! They are the two who love each other very much!" Ash exclaimed. Paul eyes widened slightly before he began glaring at the raven-hair man.

"No we don't," Paul snarled, a faint blush just barely visible on his cheeks.

Ash put a finger to his lips, glaring back at the lavender hair man with the same intensity. "Shush! I'm telling Kokoro a story! Now just roll with it for now!"

Paul sighed but said nothing else as Ash continued on with his "story".

"And when these two people who love each other dearly, a.k.a. Dawn and Paul, the two who love each other dearly begin to um…" Ash stuttered sheepishly. "They play a 'game'. Yeah! A game! And the game involves an egg and a… something men have! And then when these things join together, they become babies!" Ash concluded with a proud nod of his head. "And that is how babies are made!"

"One question," Paul spoke up. "How do the babies get in the women's stomach, hm?" Paul smirked at Ash's crestfallen expression.

"Yeah! How do the babies get in mommies' tummies?" Kokoro piped up curiously.

"Errr…um…" Ash began to glare at Paul. "Thanks for ruining my story, Paul!" Ash pouted, crossing his arms angrily in front of him.

"You're welcome," Paul said with the slightest of smirks.

"So Paul and Dawn love each other dearly?" Kokoro asked. "Like how my mommy and daddy love each other?"

Ash nodded. "If you want to believe they love each other dearly, then yes, they do love each other dearly." Paul glared icily back at Ash but said nothing.

Kokoro grinned, satisfied with this answer.

* * *

Hiroki stopped five minutes after entering the forest. He felt a strange sense of déjà vu as he gazed around the forest filled with thick oaks that served as a thick canopy of branches and leaves overhead.

Suddenly, a large light blue pokémon with a four-star shaped tail and untidy blue-gray hair that stuck up scampered pass, crying it's name as it did.

"Luxray! Lux! Rayyyyyy!" A very powerful punch to the shoulder knocked the luxray off it's feet for a few seconds as it was rammed into one of the large oaks. It's red eyes glared at a red monkey with a fire as a tail as it laughed at the pokémon.

"Chimchar! Chim!" It laughed, patting it's butt to mock the Luxray whose anger was increasing quickly at the mischievous monkey.

It's going to use thunder fang, Hiroki thought to himself. He wasn't sure how he knew it, but sure enough, the lion-like pokémon's teeth began to charge with electricity as it charged at the fire chimp who wasn't fast enough to dodge the lion's teeth from sinking into it's side.

"CHIMCHAR!" The pokémon screeched it's name in pain, scratching recklessly at the Luxray until it dropped him to the ground, the luxray growling lowly under it's breath.

It's like I've done this before, Hiroki thought to himself.

"Chimchar! Use Mach Punch, once more!"

* * *

"Okay! It's bedtime, Kokoro!" Dawn chirped, clapping her hands together.

"Aww!" Kokoro whined, looking up the deck of cards she was holding (which she had gotten from the oh-so kind Nurse Joy) to pout at Dawn, her onyx eyes growing large. "But I wanna continue to play with Ash and Paul! The game is just starting to get really fun!"

Dawn shook her head, glancing at Ash and Paul quickly before shaking her head with disgust once more. Forget pokémon battles – you thought their pokémon battles were extreme, you should watch the two rivals play cards.

"You two…" Dawn mumbled, shaking her head in disapproval. "Anyway, sorry, Kokoro but it's like eleven o'clock at night! I don't suppose your parents would let you stay up this late, would they?"

Kokoro shook her head. "But I don't want to go to bed!" She complained. "If I fall asleep I'm going to have another nightmare! Besides, I have a _really _bad feeling something terrible is going to happen tomorrow! Or the day after!"

Dawn rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm sure it's nothing, Kokoro…" Dawn bent down until the two were at eye level. She took the younger girl's hand in a comforting way. "It's just a bad dream… just remember, it's not real… it's not real…"

Kokoro nodded, taking a deep breath. "Okay…" she mumbled.

"Wow, Dawn is just like a mother to Kokoro!" Ash whispered to Paul who said nothing in response. Instead he studied the blunette and her movements. There was a glimmer in the plum-hair man's eyes that Ash could not read.

"Good." Dawn stood up, her smile widening. She brushed some of Kokoro's plum-color bangs from her face before leading the younger girl to her bed.

"Um… Dawn?" Kokoro asked shyly, staring nervously up at the kind blunette.

"Yes?" Was her sweet response.

Kokoro took a deep breath. "Thank you…" she told her sincerely. "You've been so kind to me. Letting me wear your nightgown," she gestured to the periwinkle spaghetti strapped nightgown that Dawn had given her to wear during the nights which was very similar to the rose pink nightgown Dawn wore. "And you are just so kind and patient with me… you remind me so much of my mother."

Dawn squeezed Kokoro's hand, having to fight back the smile that threatened to take up her whole face. She truly felt touched by Kokoro's words. "Well, I-I guess I'm sort of being y-your mother until we find your real o-one." Dawn stuttered, rubbing at her eyes.

Kokoro giggled. "Are you crying?"

"N-no!" Dawn exclaimed, rubbing at her eyes some more. "I got something in my eyes! That's all! I-I think it's an eyelash!" Dawn laughed sheepishly. "S-sweet dreams K-Kokoro!"

Kokoro nodded, laying her head on her pillow as Dawn started to tuck her in. "Yeah… sweet dreams, Dawn…" Kokoro murmured softly.

Dawn smiled as she heard the soft snores of the eight-year old. She then turned around with a sigh, turning around in time to witness Ash attempting to peek at Paul's deck while the plum-hair man still gazed her, his eyes questioning.

"Ash!" Dawn snapped, catching the attention of Paul who whipped his head around to glare at the raven-hair boy.

"Oh, um…" Ash grinned sheepishly, a sweat drop trickling down the side of his face. "It's not what it looks like…? I swear, I was not trying to peek at your cards, Pau,l so I could win 'Go Fish'!"

Paul scoffed, about to make a sharp retort, but Dawn quickly butted in, "Ash, quit trying to cheat on such a simple and easy game! Thinking of that, you should go back to room now too."

"Aww! But we're not done yet—"

"Too bad, so sad! Go cry yourself a river! Now get out! I will never be able to sleep with you two arguing over Arceus-knows-what! Now get out before I make Piplup use an attack on you!" Dawn ordered, pointing to the door.

"Humph!" Ash huffed. "Fine! I'll leave! I'll give you and Paul some _privacy_ since you seem to favor _him_ over _me_ now! Now goodbye!" Dawn rolled her eyes at Ash's dramatic exit.

"Drama queen…" Dawn muttered as soon as Ash shut the door to their room.

Dawn was about to go her own separate bed, but was stopped as Paul grabbed her wrist. "Hm?" She looked up, only to find herself staring into Paul's onyx color eyes.

Very familiar eyes…

"What is it?" She asked quietly, her cheeks naturally heating up as blood rushed to them.

Dawn's blush deepened as Paul continued to stare intensely into her own blue orbs. Her heart thumped wildly inside her chest and it only raced faster as she realized just how _close _their bodies were.

Finally he said something. "Oh, nothing…" He murmured in a far-off voice, as if something else was on his mind. "It's just… you make a very good mother for Kokoro…"

"Y-yeah, I-I guess I do." Dawn stammered, her body starting to sway. Her whole body was blazing with embarrassment and self-consciousness. She turned her attention to her small pale feet, starting to wiggle her toes to distract herself from Paul's intense black eyes.

"It's kind of cute when you mother her…" Paul whispered huskily. Dawn bit her lip to fight back a smile. She lifted her head up, only to have Paul's mouth suddenly against hers in a sweet, gentle kiss. He trailed his hand through her midnight blue locks.

After about fifteen seconds the two pulled apart, and they were back to phase one: staring intensely into each other's eyes.

"We should go to sleep now before it gets any later," Paul mumbled into her ear, still stroking her blue locks. Dawn nodded.

Paul planted a gentle kiss on Dawn's forehead before the two separated, going to their individual beds.

"G'night…" Dawn whispered.

Paul just grunted in response, although there was a small smirk which grace his features.

_Yeah… G'night… Dawn._

* * *

_A crackling, burning fire that flickered and danced with life. The wind roared in the background, while the fire hissed words to the young purple hair girl._

_Evils words. Threats. Threats and taunts._

"_No, no, no…" Kokoro chanted to herself, tears streaming down her face. "NO! LEAVE ME ALONE! PLEASE - LEAVE ME ALONE!"_

_She was running, running, running. But the fire was too fast, the smoke was too much… too much smoke. She couldn't see – couldn't breathe. _

"_NO! STOP! LEAVE ME ALONE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Kokoro screamed, but the fire only roared louder, hissing more deadly threats._

_No…_

---

"No! No! No!" Kokoro screamed, instantly startling Dawn and Paul awake. Tears rolled down the eight-year old's face as she stormed out of their room.

Dawn was confused, still half asleep as she tried to comprehend what had just happened.

"Oi! Kokoro!" Paul yelled, hurriedly putting on his jacket and putting on his shoes. "Oi! Dawn! Wake up!" Paul growled.

Dawn rubbed at her eyes, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She yawned. "What happened?" She mumbled. "Why did Kokoro run off?"

"Just get up!" Paul snapped. "We don't have time!" Dawn was startled by Paul's sudden harsh attitude towards her. She saw his eyes she saw impatience, frustration and worry.

Then it dawned on her.

Kokoro just ran off!

…_And the last time she ran off she got hurt, and then the fire happened the very next day._

"Crud!" Dawn cursed, slipping on a pair of fuzzy slippers and grabbing her pink sweat jacket, rushing out the door. Dawn ran down the hall to wake up Ash and Brock while Paul raced outside after Kokoro.

"Ash! Brock! Wake up! Kokoro – s-she's gone!" Dawn exclaimed.

Ash instantly jolted up, banging his head on the bunk bed overhead. The sound of its trainer hitting his head on the bed above him woke up Pikachu who repeated its name in concern.

"Huh? What? N-Nurse Joy? Is that you?" Brock exclaimed, stumbling out of his bed, the sheets tangled around his legs. Croagunk instantly jabbed the half-asleep Brock, waking him up entirely.

"Kokoro ran off!" Dawn cried once more, tears now rolling freely down her cheeks. "C'mon! Hurry! We have to find her!"

Ash and Brock exchanged shocked gasps. "Right!" They both exclaimed, hurriedly grabbing their jackets and slipping on a pair of shoes before running out of the room and pokémon center with Dawn in the lead.

"Kokoro!" Dawn heard Paul's yell in the distant and followed his voice while her other two friends started calling out Kokoro's name.

"Paul! Did you—"

"AHHHHHH!" A terrible flash of lightning was seen in the distance in the same direction Kokoro's scream had came from.

Just like last time…

Dawn's heart dropped at the scream and tears poured uncontrollably down her cheeks, and she grasped at her heart, her breaths coming in choking gasps.

"Kokoro!" Paul yelled, running towards the sound of the scream.

Dawn ran after him, her vision blurred by her tears, stumbling over a few rocks. Dawn gasped at the sight of Kokoro sprawled body in the distance. As Dawn approached the body she saw scarlet everywhere… staining the periwinkle nightgown Dawn had given her… blood staining her purple locks.

"No! Kokoro!" Dawn sobbed, dropping to her knees as her fingers clawed at the place her aching heart laid under her skin.

Paul gently turned her over, a groan escaping Kokoro's lips as she did. And it may have just been the trick of the light, but it looked as if there were tear streaks going down Paul's cheeks. He shrugged off his jacket, laying it over her abdomen which was gushing out blood.

Dawn wiped her tears away, still gasping, as she quickly scanned the area they were currently in.

The moonlight shone on dark bulky shapes in the distance, thin bone-like structures sprouting from the objects.

Trees.

This meant they were in the forest that caught on fire…

Dawn's face paled.

No…

"Paul!" Dawn whispered urgently. "We're in the forest that caught on fire!" Paul scanned the area himself, cursing under his breath as he realized she was most likely right.

"Aha! There you guys are!" A familiar voice yelled. Ash and Brock rushed to their side and they gasped at the sight of Kokoro.

"Is she alright?" Ash whispered, his chocolate brown eyes wide and troubled.

"She's hurt badly…" Paul told Ash in a quiet voice, that way he didn't disturb Kokoro. "But she's not dead or anything…" Yet… he added in his mind.

"We have to get her out of this forest!" Dawn whispered to them. "Something very bad is going to—"

"We can't move her…" Brock mumbled.

"Huh? What? But we have to! The forest is going to—"

"We can't move her Dawn." Brock looked up to stare into the blunette's worried blue orbs. "That wound Kokoro has… She have already lost too much blood. We should at least wait until she wakes up before we start moving her. Besides, we can't take her to the pokémon center we just left because Nurse Joy is out due to an emergency."

"Then we have to take her to the next pokémon center!" Dawn snapped.

"And the second closest pokémon center is in Veilstone…" Paul murmured. "And the quickest way to get to Veilstone is…"

Through this forest, the two thought together.

"Is through Angel Forest." Brock concluded out loud. "But like I said, lets wait until Kokoro wakes up. Meanwhile, we should take care of her wound so it doesn't get infected. Luckily I bought my medicine kit."

While Brock began to bandage Kokoro's stomach wound Dawn began to tug Paul away, ignoring the confused glances Ash was shooting them.

"Paul! We can't stay here! You know what's going to happen if we do!" Dawn exclaimed in a hushed voice, her ocean blue eyes large with worry. Her lower lip trembled, and she had to blink back tears.

Paul swallowed, a huge lump suddenly forming in the middle of his throat. Dawn looked so pitiful with those big watery eyes. "Just calm down…" He told her, surprised at how soft and gentle his tone was. "We don't know what day the fire happened… we just know it was raining that night… it's not raining right now, is it?" Dawn shook her head. "So who said the fire will be tomorrow morning? Nobody. We're the only who knows it's going to happen; we just don't know when."

Dawn sighed, letting her head fall onto Paul's chest. "I'm still worried though…" she whispered. "I'm worried about Kokoro… but I'm also worried about you." Dawn eyes slid close, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

Paul was glad Dawn couldn't see the small smile that began to tug at the corner of his lips. Paul sighed mentally, stroking the blunette's long, silky blue hair. How is it that one day he couldn't care less about the girl in his arms, and the next day it's like he's in love with her?

---

Dawn wasn't sure when she dozed off, but when she opened her eyes harsh sunlight glared back at her. "Urrgghh… " Dawn groaned. "What time is it?" she questioned herself, yawning noisily as she rubbed at her sleepy eyes.

"It's around one o'clock in the afternoon," Paul answered her. "You can tell because the sun is still in the middle of sky, but it's more to the west than the east."

Dawn's eyes widened at this news and immediately she bolted up, stumbling back some as fatigue caught up with her. "I slept that late?" she squeaked.

Paul nodded, warily eyeing up her hair which unbeknownst to her was sticking up all over the place and looked like a bird's nest.

Dawn frowned as she heard a snicker beside her. "What? What is sit?" She questioned Ash who was trying his hardest not to crack up laughing at his friend's morning hair. Unable to hold it in no longer though, Ash finally cracked up into raucous laughter. "What's wrong?!" Dawn exclaimed her face flushing red in embarrassment.

Dawn turned back to Paul, her eyes wild and frantic. "What is he laughing at?!" She shrieked at him, examining her clothes before having her hair hands dive for her wild mess of a hair. She gasped loudly.

"Your… hair…" Paul finally mumbled, fighting back an amused grin as the blunette shrieked loudly before clawing at the tangles in her hair.

"Ouch!" She hissed through her teeth as she tugged at a particular stubborn tangle.

"Eh?" Dawn looked up as tiny raindrops began to fall from the sky, the cold raindrops kissing her skin and sending goosebumps up and down her arms. Dawn sighed softly as her messy hair began to flatten out with the help of the rain.

"C'mon, Dawn… now that you're up we should probably continue on to Veilstone City before Kokoro's would gets infected or she gets sick from the all the rain." Brock told the blunette who agreed.

"Okay… is Kokoro up yet?" Dawn questioned, looking around for the little eight-year old girl.

"No need to worry! I'm up!" Kokoro chirped cheerfully. "Owwie… my stomach hurts…" she groaned, her face contorting in pain. At these words Dawn immediately felt a mother-like instinct take over her as she rushed to the girl's side.

"Are you okay?" Dawn asked worriedly. "Can you walk by yourself? Or would you rather if somebody carried you?"

Kokoro screwed up her face in more pain but managed to say cheerfully, "Like I said, no - need - to - worry!" She giggled afterwards. "I'll be fine in no time! Actually in fact, my stomach doesn't hurt as bad as it use to already!"

"You sure?" Dawn questioned, still eyeing Kokoro warily as she slowly began to stand up. She nodded eagerly. "Are you sure you're sure?" dawn asked again.

Kokoro scowled in annoyance. "Now you're starting to sound my mom!" she whined. Dawn smiled at the girl. Her scowl… it was just like Paul's scowl, Dawn noticed.

Actually in fact, she looks a lot like Paul… Dawn thought to herself. And what's with her saying 'no need to worry' all the time? I thought I was the only one who said that phrase… I guess not though.

Dawn shrugged, shaking the thoughts from her mind.

"C'mon!" Paul called impatiently, a similar scowl to Kokoro's now present on his face. "It would be nice to maybe get to Veilstone _before_ tomorrow if possible!"

"We're coming!" Dawn snapped back. "Arceus… Mister Impatient!" She huffed, grabbing Kokoro's hand and squeezing it lightly. "I swear sometimes he's j'ust…" She trailed off.

"Oh well." she sighed. "The sooner we're out of this forest, the better."

* * *

That night Hiroki could not sleep. There was something about this day… him catching a luxray… his chimchar evolving into monferno and then later learning flamethrower… it all seemed to familiar. Like he had already done it.

But not just that. He also just had a feeling something big was going to happen the next morning. Something possibly life-changing.

_Or life threatening…_

Hiroki shook off these dark thoughts. "Nothing's going to happen tonight nor tomorrow," He reassured himself. "So just forget about it."

But even so he couldn't forget about it. The feeling still clung to him like he was a stupid bug pokémon trapped in an ariados's web. Soon enough morning came, and raindrops were still pelting the dirt floor rhythmically, jagged bolts of lightning lighting the dawn sky. The rumble of thunder filled the forest soon after.

I should have stayed the night at the pokémon center, Hiroki thought sourly to himself.

Stupid rain… go away.

Just at that moment Hiroki was startled as a lightning from nearby flashed before his eyes followed by a _deafening_ roar of thunder that followed immediately. Moments later he heard something that sounded similar to the crackling of fire.

Hiroki's eyes widened, his hand immediately reaching for his poké ball. "Skarmory! Quick! Scan the forest! See what's going on!" He demanded immediately.

Skarmory nodded, letting out a shrill _"Skarrrr!" _before flapping it's sharp steel wings and soaring into the gray sky, the rain now just a drizzle.

Fear gripped Hiroki's chest as she thought he caught a glow of orange and gold in the distance.

_No… please no… _He prayed.

* * *

"Lets stop here for the night," Brock suggested, gently setting down a sleeping Kokoro who ended up being too exhausted to walk all day through the forest with her bad wound still fresh and hurting.

Dawn frowned at the girl's still figure. "Hey… Kokoro?" Dawn asked gently, bending down to lock a strand of the girl's lavender hair behind her ears. Next she brushed the girl's bangs away from he face. "Hey… Kokoro… wake up."

Still, the girl didn't stir. Instead she started mumbling something under her breath.

"_Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss…" _She murmured. _"Crack! Sizzle… Pop! Hiss… Crack! Sizzle… Pop! His…"_

The words echoed in Dawn's mind, a familiar bad dream (or vision - whatever it was) beginning to replay in her mind.

'_You play with fire… you __**will**__ get burned…'_

'_One plus one minus one still equals one.'_

'_It will do no good pretending, because nobody has a happy ending…'_

'_You can't change the future… One will be sacrificed for the other… Destiny cannot be denied, or else somebody else pays the price.'_

'_There's a secret to deceiving destiny…' _

A secret to deceiving destiny… a secret to deceiving destiny…

The last line echoed in Dawn's mind.

A secret to deceiving destiny.

"A secret to deceiving destiny…" Dawn whispered out loud. Her vision began to fog as a bright white light filled her vision, a dark figure emerging from the white light.

The figure was a… pokémon. A fairy-like pokémon. A _green_ fairy pokémon.

Celebi. Voice of the Forest. The time-traveling pokémon.

The secret to deceiving destiny…

"FIRE!" Brock yelled, immediately startling Dawn out of her thoughts.

Kokoro's eyes snapped open as she immediately climbed to her feet, grabbing Dawn's hand as tears began to brim her dark eyes that were wide with fright. Dawn's own eyes widened, panic flooding her chest at the sight of fire that flickered less than one-hundred yards away.

At least we're not trapped in the middle of the fire like last time, Dawn thought gratefully.

That thought didn't entirely stop her from panicking though.

"The forest is on fire!" Kokoro shrieked. "I _knew _something bad was going to happen! I just _knew_ it!" she sobbed.

"Shush shush, Kokoro. It's okay! Really!" Dawn told her the young frightened girl although her own quavering voice betrayed her. "N-no need to worry!"

"C'mon! Lets go already!" Ash called impatiently.

"Lets get out of here before the fire spreads throughout the whole forest!" Brock agreed, motioning for the other three to start running too.

Paul intertwined his fingers with Dawn to secure firm grip on the brunette – their eyes locking briefly – while Dawn made sure she had a good grip on Kokoro's hand so she wouldn't get separated from them this time.

"Lets go…" Paul whispered, squeezing Dawn's hand comfortingly as they began to run after Ash and Brock.

The fire spread quickly. Like wildfire – which was exactly what it was: wildfire.

Fire surrounded them, flickering dangerously as smoke filled up the entire forest, suffocating them. Dawn's eyes stung with tears from the smoke as she coughed violently into her arm.

"Ash! Brock!" Dawn cried out. "Where are you—" Dawn was cut off as she began to cough even more violently, rasping sounds that sounded like she was choking erupted from her throat and she had to stop momentarily to catch her breath.

Only to inhale more smoke.

"Oi! Dawn! Paul! Over here!" The trio made their way towards the sound of the breeder's voice, barely managing to make out his spiky brown hair through all the smoke.

"How do we—cough! cough!—get out of—" Dawn stopped, yanking her hand out of Paul's and Kokoro's hands to grip at her heart as she coughed even more violently.

Dawn swallowed once, but she could only taste the acrid taste of ashes and cinders.

Suddenly Kokoro gasped. "Hiroki!" she shrieked. "He's in danger!" Kokoro closed her eyes, the blurry image of her brother laying dead under a huge tree branch that had fallen filling her mind. The image of her brother laying in a pool of crimson liquid – lying in his own blood.

She had to protect her little brother! (Even if she was actually littler than him at the moment).

"Hiroki! I'm coming!" she yelled, bolting off with her lavender locks whipping against her back. I'll save him… Kokoro thought.

And then he'll be alright.

* * *

**Ugh! This chapter was one beast to write! :P Personally, I kind of hate this chapter because one) I kept getting writer's block every minutes and two) well, it was just difficult to write. Felt like doing a tongue twister for me, lol.**

**Anyway, I noticed I put a lot of… scene-changes. Hopefully none of them confused you, or made this chapter tough to follow. xD; I actually planned on having a lot more stuff happen in this chapter, but this chapter is already getting pretty long (longest chapter yet for this story I think) and like I said, this chapter was one tough cookie to write for whatever reason. Anyway, sorry for any mistakes, I'll correct this in the morning since I'm dead-tired right now and I won't be able to post this chapter up until 2 o'clock at least if I don't post it up now. (And if you see any mistakes - which I'm 100 percent positive you will - let me know about it 'kay? xD;)**

**Feel free to review. I give out cookies~ **


	15. Future

_**Angel of a Girl Named Kokoro**_

_**Chapter Fifteen  
**__**Future**_

---

_The outcome of the future is influenced by it's past  
__And the result will leave you aghast_

---

"Mommy? Daddy?" The mother groaned, shifting in her husbands arms before snuggling deeper into them. "Mommy! Daddy!" The five year old cried again.

"Urgh… what is it, Platina?" The blunette sighed, yawning as she rubbed at her eyes. The father reluctantly sat upright in bed next to his wife. He lifted his five year old daughter off the floor, laying her gently on the bed.

"What happened to Kokoro?" she asked immediately. Both parents blinked.

"Huh?" Dawn asked in belief. "Wh-what happened to Kokoro?" The mother exchanged glances with the father. How did she know about Kokoro? They hadn't told Platina about Kokoro yet… or had they?

"How do you know about Kokoro?" The father questioned, stroking his daughter's choppy shoulder-length hair.

Platina smiled. "I met her today in my dream!" she declared chirpily, her ocean blue eyes twinkling happily. "Well, I didn't really meet her… but I did see her! I heard you two call her Kokoro too, so that's how I know her name!"

Again, the parents exchanged confused glances.

"Hey, how come you never told me about the fire in Angel Forest? You two and Kokoro could have died in it too! It was scary! And Hiroki almost died too!" Platina exclaimed, her ocean blue eyes wide as she thrashed her arms around for emphasize.

"P-Platina!" Dawn stuttered.

Platina tilted her head to the side, frowning. "What is it mommy?"

"How…how do you know about that fire?" Paul asked sternly, resting a huge hand on his second daughter's small shoulder as his onyx-colored eyes bored into her big blue ones.

She shrugged. "I already told you!" she replied cheerfully. "I dreamed about it!"

"Platina…" Platina turned to her mommy, the lavener-hair girl's eyes suddenly hardening, and her lips now a firm line as she studied her mother with a calculating expression on her hardened face. This scared Dawn a bit.

"What is it, Platina?" Paul questioned, quirking an eyebrow at his daughter's odd behavior.

"I didn't know you had a scar on your back, mommy!"

* * *

"Kokoro! Get back here!" Dawn screamed, running after the plum-hair girl through a thick curtain of acrid-smelling smoke. "Kokoro! Kokoro! Ko-ko—" Dawn stopped running to cough into her arm.

Paul ran pass her, calling the girl's name next. He stopped a few feet ahead of her to glance back at her. Dawn was breathing heavily and unevenly, struggling to catch a breath of fresh air that just wasn't there. Dawn swallowed once to clear her dry throat before blinking a few times to clear her vision. She forced herself to run after Paul, and despite the horrible soreness her throat was suffering from inhaling so much smoke, also forced herself to scream Kokoro's name.

Soon enough they caught up to Kokoro due to having longer legs than the eight year old who squirmed in Dawn's firm grip as she grabbed the younger girl's arm.

"Kokoro! What are you thinking?" Dawn shouted, glaring at Kokoro. "You can't just go running off like that! You could get hurt! Things that are on fire are falling, and—"

Dawn's screams were cut short as a loud rumbling sounded from close by. "Huh?" The three looked up, their eyes widening as they watched a huge oak tree shake and tremble.

"MOVE!" Paul yelled, shoving both girls until they started moving.

The tree fell forward, barely missing the three as they ducked out of the giant oak's way. Debri and ashes were scattered all over the place, filthying the three's clothes even further.

Dawn moaned, holding her head which had hit the ground with a loud _THUMP!_ when she had stumbled away and fallen onto the ground. The ground was warm beneath her from the fire.

She tossed herself over to glance at the tree that had fell. Fire blazed on the branches, and Dawn's eyes widened in unmasked terror. She stood up, her head spinning from fatigue as she spun around, her eyes taking in the scenario before her. Patches of browned grass were on fire all around them, surrounding them.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Dawn panicked.

"We're trapped," Paul's voice echoed her own terrified thoughts. "Again."

"What are we going to do?" Kokoro shrieked, her onyx-colored eyes portraying her fear, tears beginning to brim her eyes. She clung onto Dawn, tears sliding down her soot-stained cheeks.

"N-no need to worry!" Dawn squeaked. "W-we've made it out alive in this forest before, we'll make it out alive again!" she reassured, patting Kokoro's back. A flash of determination flashed in her eyes. "Paul! Take Kokoro!"

Paul stared at her for a moment before nodding. He bent down to one knee and gently pulled Kokoro away from Dawn. The plum-hair girl gave a small sniff, rubbing at her swollen pink eyes.

"Piplup! Spotlight!" Dawn tossed her blue penguin pokémon's ball in the air, tossing her hair behind her shoulders and giving a small half-circled spin. Piplup materialized in front of her, exclaiming its name and taking a battle stance.

Dawn turned back and winked at them, sending them a quick thumbs up before turning back to her starter pokémon.

Kokoro giggled, while Paul just smirked.

"Okay! Use whirlpool, Piplup!" Dawn shouted.

"Pipluuuuup!" Its body glowed a blue-white, and within seconds a huge whirlpool had formed in the penguin's beak. "Luuuup!" It shrieked again before tossing the whirlpool onto the blazing grass. The fire went out immediately.

"Whirlpool again!" Dawn shouted, pointing to the giant oak that had fallen and nearly crushed them minutes earlier.

"Luuup!" Another whirlpool was sent onto the giant tree followed by two more whirlpools. By the fourth whirlpool Piplup sent, the fire on the tree had went out, no longer blazing tauntingly or hissing deviously.

Dawn grinned in satisfaction. "Good job, Piplup!" she congratulated, scooping the penguin up in her arms. She turned back to Paul and Kokoro. "C'mon! Lets go!" she yelled.

"Wait!"

"What is it Kokoro?" Dawn asked impatiently, turning around to face the eight-year old girl.

The girl bit her lip nervously, swinging her arms behind her back. "Are you sure we should go _that_ way?" she questioned, pointing to the path Dawn was about to take which gave off an ominous feeling to Kokoro. "Can't go that way, instead?"

"It'll be easier to get to the other boy this way," Dawn pointed out impatiently. "Now lets go already!"

Kokoro hesitated, but followed Dawn and Paul nonetheless.

* * *

"_How do you like my bathing suit, Kokoro?" Her mother questioned, modeling in her bathing suit for her five-year old daughter which she had bought for their family vacation at Sunyshore. _

_The mom wore a light pink bikini, a short skirt which was more of a salmon pink was attached to the bottom piece. The upper piece was tied behind her neck, showing off much of her back. A heart-shaped design was created with rhinestones on the upper half too._

"_You look beautiful mommy!" Kokoro replied cheerily. "How do I look?" she asked, posing in her own periwinkle-colored one-piece bathing suit with little piplup designs decorating the suit. Light blue sunglasses were also on top of her head, and she wore sandals that matched her bathing suit._

_Dawn giggled. "You look amazing," she told her with another giggle. "Just like a model!" Kokoro cheered in satisfaction, starting to jump up and down._

"_Really?" Dawn nodded._

"_Of course!" she laughed._

_Kokoro's smile widened as she spotted her daddy finally coming to join them, previously talking to someone he apparently knew when he was younger. "Daddy!" Kokoro yelled. "Mommy says I look like a model! Do you think so too?"_

_Paul glanced at his daughter, surveying her outfit. He cracked a smile as he nodded. "Maybe when you're older you'll be a bathing suit model," he told her._

"_But I wanna be an amazing coordinator like mommy and a strong trainer like you!" Kokoro responded, grabbing her dad's hand. _

"_Ah." Paul grunted. Dawn laughed._

_Paul smirked as he spotted his wife in her bathing suit. "Cute," he commented, earning a blush from Dawn. _

"_Thanks," she replied, latching onto his arm. "You don't look so bad yourself."_

"_Eww, you two aren't gonna start kissing again, are ya?" Kokoro asked, scrunching her face up already at the thought. "I don't know why you two like kissing so much! It looks gross!"_

"_If you think it's gross, look away," Paul replied back, tussling his daughter's hair. _

"_Hmph! Fine I will!" she huffed, turning the other way, her nose sticking up in the air._

"_Hey, don't tease Kokoro like that," Dawn said, smacking his arm playfully. "C'mon, you two; lets head for the beach already before it gets any later. It's already two o'clock."_

"_Well, we would have been here sooner if you weren't taking your time prepping," Paul pointed out. Dawn "humph!"-ed, puffing out her cheeks and sticking her tongue out at the plum-hair man childishly._

_Kokoro followed quietly behind her parents as they talked, staring at her small feet as she kicked up sand. She sighed, looking up to stare at her parent's backs. Kokoro frowned as a line on her mother's back that ran diagnal caught her eye, the peachy-colored line sticking out from her mom's ivory-colored skin. The line was about an inch thick in width, but reached from her mother's right shoulder-blade to an inch or two above her mother's left hip._

"_What's that on your back?" Kokoro questioned her mom curiously, her eyes never leaving the line that stretched across her mother's back._

"_Oh…" Her mother's pace slowed and she bit her lower lip self-consciously. "That's a scar I have, sweetie," she explained, scratching the back of her head sheepishly. "It's a burn."_

"_How did you get it?" she questioned, now walking on her mother's side._

"_I…I can't remember," Dawn replied truthfully, sweat dropping. "Do you remember how I got it, Paul? I think you were there when I got, weren't you?" Silence from Paul's side made Dawn turn around. "…Paul?"_

_Paul had stopped a few feet behind, staring down at the ground, a look of determination on his face. It almost looked as if he replaying some bad memory in his head and he was trying to change it somehow. As if he was trying to change the result._

"_Paul…?"_

"…_Daddy?"_

* * *

"Kokoro!" Hiroki yelled, calling for his sister's name. Panic began to expand the boy's chest when his Skarmory returned, shaking it's head, meaning he hadn't found Kokoro yet. "KOKORO!" Hiroki yelled again. "Kokoro! Kokoro!"

"Skarrr?"

"Keep looking!" he snapped, glaring at his pokémon. Skarmory backed away, shocked by his trainer's obvious determination to find and save his sister, his tone harsher than usual.

"Skarrrr…" It flapped it's steel wings, squawking as it continued it's search for a young lavender-hair girl in a forest full of smoke and flames.

_"Skarrrr!"_

* * *

"Wait! Please! Slow down!" Kokoro cried, her arms wrapped around her stomach like she was hugging herself, a pain like her stomach was ripping open filling her. Kokoro groaned, wincing as another pain from her stomach shot throughout her body.

"What's wrong?" Dawn asked, turning around to face Kokoro. Her eyes widened as she saw Kokoro kneeling on the ground, blood staining the periwinkle-colored nightgown she was wearing. "Kokoro!"

"I don't feel so good…" Kokoro whimpered, her face suddenly turning to a ghostly pale, her eyelids slipping shut.

"No! Kokoro!" Dawn screamed, shaking the little eight year old. "Wake up! Wake up!"

"Her cut must have reopened," Paul explained, kneeling down beside Kokoro and scooping the little eight year old up in his arms. "Kokoro! Kokoro! Wake up!" He yelled, shaking her.

"Is she alive? Is she breathing? Is she okay?" Dawn questioned, her body beginning to tremble with anxiety.

Paul put his ear to the younger girl's heart, listening for a heart beat.

_Thump… Thump… Thump…_

Paul breathed a sigh of relief. "She's just unconscious," he told her. "But she's alive; she should be okay as long as she doesn't lose too much blood." With this thought in mind, Paul laid Kokoro gently back on the ground and shrugged off his jacket before wrapping it tightly around the girl's torso.

"_Skarrrrrr!"_ An ear-piercing shriek was heard ahead.

"It's a skarmory!" Dawn exclaimed.

Paul's eyebrows furrowed together as he stared in confusion at the bird pokémon. "But a skarmory wouldn't live in Angel Forest," he muttered to himself. "So it must be a trainer's skarmory!"

"What? You think it belongs to somebody?" Dawn queried. "Like who?"

"Like that blue-hair guy that was in the forest last time," Paul replied, scooping Kokoro back in his arms. "And if that is true than that means he's probably somewhere close by."

"That boy…" Dawn murmured, her face suddenly thoughtful. "He looked a lot like you…"

Paul raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

Dawn shrugged. "He just reminded me of you… You both have the same face features, your hair goes to your shoulder and so does his, plus just you he had black eyes…"

"That's odd," Paul mused, not thinking much of the comment. "HEY!" Paul called after the Skarmory.

"Skarr?" The Armor Bird Pokémon turned around, scanning the area for whoever had yelled earlier. Was it Hiroki calling him back? Had Hiroki found his sister? Or was it somebody else yelling for a different reason? Skarmory scanned the clearing.

From the distance, outside the forest, were two teens, one with messy black hair with a hat on and the second one a taller spiky-haired man with slanted eyes. They were both pacing outside the forest anxiously, both looking on the verge of a nervous breakdown. They were out of the forest, out of harm's way from the fire.

"HEY! SKARMORY!"

"Skarrr?" It looked down, spotting three more people down below; a blue-hair girl, a boy with plum-colored hair who was holding a younger girl with the same hair color as him. It was the boy who had been calling for him.

"Skarrr?" It landed in front of them, cocking it's head to the side. It began to examine the younger girl in the male's arms, studying the long lavender bangs that covered the girl's closed eyes and the ivory-colored skin that was much like his trainer's. The girl looked just like the picture he found Hiroki often looking at. This girl must be his sister then, Kokoro!

"Skarrr!" It screeched in understanding, flapping it's steel wings and lifting itself back in the air once more. "Skarrr! Skarrr!" _Follow me!_

The male trainer seemed to understand because he nodded and stood up, Kokoro in his arms. He gestured for the blue-hair girl to follow him.

"I think it's going to show us where it's trainer is," he explained to her.

"Ah…" She nodded in understanding.

The bird pokémon flew low, dodging burning trees and cutting any tree branches that got in it's path with razor-sharp feathers. Dawn and Paul followed, dodging the tree branches Skarmory would cut down with it's feathers on the way.

"H…Hi…Hiro-ki?" Kokoro mumbled, shifting in Paul's arms.

"Wait!" Paul yelled.

"Skarr!" It shrieked in response, impatiently looking over it's back then back ahead.

Paul gently placed Kokoro's feet back on the ground, keeping a firm grip on Kokoro's shoulder in case she stumbled or began to fall. "Can you stand?" he asked.

Kokoro ignored his question. "Where are we going?" she grumbled. "My stomach _huuurrrts_!"

"We're going to find this blue-hair kid, okay?" Paul explained. "We just have to follow this Skarmory."

"Why?" Kokoro whined, rubbing at her pink, watery eyes. "My stomach hurts really, _really _bad! And… and why does it smell like smoke?"

"Skarrr!"

"No time to explain," Dawn sighed, grabbing one of Kokoro's hand while Paul grabbed the other. "We have to go. _Now!_"

_POP!_

Dawn jumped, screaming as burning debri almost fell on top of her.

"Lets go!" Paul growled, already tugging on Kokoro's arm. Kokoro shrieked in protest, stumbling along on bare feet as she followed the older kids. The three were forced to run as the skarmory began flying faster.

"Stop!" Kokoro screamed, tears in her eyes. "Where are we going, mom? _Ouch! _Daaaad!"

Dawn frowned as she turned back to face Kokoro, still running after the Skarmory. "We're not your parents Kokoro!" Dawn told her, almost pleadingly.

"_Skarrrr!"_

"Did you find her—" Hiroki started, stopping though as he spotted his younger-but-suppose-to-be-older sister.

Kokoro gasped loudly. "Hiroki!" she yelled, tearing her hand away from Dawn's and running towards her brother, engulfing him in an ursaring hug. "You're okay!" she cried.

Hiroki was equally shocked, but gladly returned her hug. "You're okay too…" he breathed.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of white light and the black outline of a pokémon with antennas and small wings could be seen. "Briiii! Briii!" He cried out. It glanced around, her eyes widening as it recognized Hiroki, the trainer that had attacked her. "Brriiiii!"

"Celebi!" Kokoro gasped, recognizing the pokémon. "I remember you!" she exclaimed in delight, her onyx-colored eyes shining.

"It's Celebi…" Dawn breathed. "The Voice of the Forest, the Time-Traveling Pokémon…"

"I wonder if it's here because of the fire…?" Paul murmured, staring with amazement at the fairy-like pokémon.

"Celebi!" It yelled, staring with awe at Kokoro.

_POP!_

_SNAP!_

_Creaaaak…_

"Hey! Watch out!" Dawn screamed, her eyes widening as a tree that was on fire began to fall towards Kokoro and Hiroki, flames still blazing with life on its branches.

_No, no, no! That could crush them!_ Dawn's mind shrieked. _They could die! They can't die! They CAN'T! Not now!_

"KOKORO!" Dawn shrieked, running towards the two and pushing the lavender-hair girl out of harm's way.

"Wha…?" Kokoro grunted as she hit the ground, wondering why Dawn had just pushed her for no reason, having been too mesmerized at the appearance of Celebi to notice the groaning tree about to crush her and her brother.

"Move!" Dawn yelled, shoving the blue-hair boy. Hiroki's eyes widened though as he caught a glimpse of Dawn.

_Mom!_

Hiroki stumbled.

"Dawn get back here right now!" Paul yelled angrily, already running towards the blue-hair girl.

"Move!" Dawn shrieked again, using all her strength to shove the shocked boy out of the way of the falling tree. His head hit the ground with a sickening _thud!_.

"DAWN!" Paul yelled, his eyes filled with fright and anxiety. "MOVE!"

Dawn turned around, but it was too late.

"AHHH!" Dawn screamed as the large tree crushed one of her legs, blood filling her mouth as she bit too hard on her tongue. Dawn's head spun and tears stung her eyes as she fell forward, skinning her other knee.

"DAWN!" Paul yelled, rushing towards her.

Suddenly a heavy weight fell on her back and there was a worse pain, a searing pain that shot through her back. There was an unnatural warmth spreading down her back. Dawn screamed, thrashing and struggling to free her trapped leg from the tree. The weight previously on her back rolled off and onto the ground, revealing to be a tree branch that had snapped. A tree branch that was _on fire._

"Dawn's back is on fire!" Kokoro screamed, her black eyes horrified.

As if on cue, another searing pain shot through her back, and her back was stinging terribly like a thousand ants stinging her back, but a lot worse. It was a pain that couldn't be described. Dawn screamed again, tears now rolling freely down her cheeks as she thrashed around some more.

"Dawn! Dawn! Stay clam!" Paul instructed her, but she was unable to stay calm. HER BACK WAS _ON FIRE!_ Paul was attempting to reach for her piplup's poké ball, but she was thrashing around too much.

"Dawwwn!" Kokoro sobbed, her shoulders trembling as tears of her own ran down her face.

"Bii! Biii!" Celebi was shrieking, also panicking.

Dawn screamed another ear-piercing scream, scrambling to stand up as she finally managed to free her leg from the giant oak tree. "Get it out! Get it out!" Dawn was yelling, stumbling for her piplup's poké ball as she fell back on the ground, unable to stand up due to her injured leg.

"Piplu—LUP?!?!" Piplup eye's bugged as it saw the fire on Dawn's back. "Piplup pip!"

Dawn shrieked as a freezing shot of water from Piplup soaked her back. The cold water against the burn marks and the blisters already beginning to form on her back was like a thousand knifes stabbing at her back.

"Dawn! Are you alright?!" Paul asked. Dawn continued to sob, flinching as Paul laid his hands on her shoulders. Paul realized his mistake, letting his hands drop from her shoulder.

"Look at me Dawn!" Paul demanded. Dawn shook her head, the tears starting to fall harder.

"I-it hurts too much…" she whimpered.

"Is she going to be okay?" Kokoro asked, her eyes large with fright.

Paul stayed silent, glancing around at the forest they were in. The forest that was still on fire… _We can't stay here, _Paul thought desperately to himself. _But Dawn is too injured to move much farther…_

"Celebi!" Celebi yelled. Abruptly the Green Guardian began to glow white. There was a flash and a strange sensation filled Paul's entire body. Dawn whimpered, wrapping her arms around his torso, giving another muffled shriek when she moved her back muscles.

"BRIIIIII!" Everything began to flash white in a dizzying way, and although it appeared as if they weren't moving, it felt as if they were on a roller coaster ride. "Briiii!"

"Piplup!" Piplup shrieked.

"Piplup, return…" Dawn murmured faintly, weakly holding up her hands which were clenched around the pokémon's poké ball to return the blue penguin.

"What's happening?" Kokoro yelled, her head spinning in a nauseating way.

Hiroki groaned, rubbing his head. Paul glanced at him, realizing that until now he had been unconscious ever since Dawn pushed him out of the way of the falling tree and he had hit his head on the ground.

"Briiiiiiiiiiiii!" The green fairy pokémon spared them one last glance before vanishing into the whiteness.

"CELEBI, WAIT!" Kokoro screamed.

The blinding white background slowly began to fade into another background filled with green trees that _weren't_ on fire, and a ground that was cloaked with snow. Snowflakes fell from puffy, dove gray clouds from above and a wintry breeze greeted them.

"Where are we?" Dawn asked, untangling her arms from around his torso. She flinched, more tears stinging her eyes as the searing pain on her back worsened.

Paul looked around, frowning. "I don't know…" he mumbled.

"I think we may be in the future!" Kokoro exclaimed suddenly.

All eyes turned to her.

The future…?

* * *

**Whew! Finally done! 8D Now before you say anything, I'll voice of your thoughts and say, "Poor Dawn! D;=". A-hem. This fic is getting pretty dramatic, isn't it? Heheheh… *sweat drops* Oh, and sorry for the (kind-of, sort-of) late update. XD; ****So, did anybody like the couplet I made at the beginning of the story? I added a couplet to every one of the other chapters too! ^^ ... xD; *is shot* **

**Review please~ **

**AND HAPPY NEW YEARS! WHOO! 2010! (I'm gonna finish this story this year, just watch! xD)**


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